Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – September 2, 2026 – Real Estate Closing Scam
I have been reporting to you about this particular scam preying upon home buyers for ten years, however this scam has gotten worse in recent years. Seven years ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a warning about the scam and its dramatic increase. The scam targets people involved in the purchase and sales of residential real estate. The scam begins with the hacking into the email accounts of any of the various people involved in the sale. This can be either the buyer, seller, lawyers, title company, real estate agent or mortgage banker. Unfortunately, hacking into email accounts is a relatively easy thing for a skilled identity thief to do. The hackers then monitor the communications regarding the progress of the sale of a particular piece of real estate and when the time is right, generally posing as one of the lawyers, title company or bank mortgage officer, the scammer will email the buyer, telling him or her that funds necessary to complete the sale need to be wired to the phony lawyer’s, title company’s or banker’s account provided in the email. Everything appears normal so unsuspecting buyers too often are wiring the money to the cyberthieves who then launder the money by moving the funds from account to account to make it difficult to trace the funds.
In one instance in Colorado Phil Tamchina thought he was responding to his real estate agent who requested ten days before the scheduled closing that he wire the $730,000 for the purchase of his new home to the real estate agent. He did so, but the email didn’t come from his real estate agent, but came from a scammer. Fortunately, the bank where the funds were sent had put a hold on the account after red flags were raised and the funds were able to be sent back to Mr. Tamchina. Many other victims of this scam, however, haven’t been as lucky.
TIPS
Whenever you are asked through an email or text message to wire funds as a part of a real estate or other business transaction, don’t do so until you have confirmed that the request and the account to which you are being asked to wire the funds are legitimate. Appearances can be deceiving so always confirm. It may seem a bit paranoid, but remember, even paranoids have enemies.
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Scam of the day – September 1, 2026 – Dolly Parton Charity Scams
The recent death of country music icon Dolly Parton has brought an outpouring of emotions and grief from her legions of fans who admired not only her music and acting, but also her extensive charitable endeavors including the Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library. Unfortunately, scammers, as they always do, are taking advantage of anything that holds the interest of the public and are targeting Dolly Parton’s fans and admirers with a variety of scams including appeals for charitable organizations that appear to be affiliated with her. Dolly’s family asked that any donations be made to her Imagination Library which can be reached through her Dollywood Foundation. Using AI, scammers are able to send emails, text messages and social media posts that appear to come from the Dollywood Foundation and may contain links that take you to sites that also appear to be legitimate, but are merely AI created copies of her real charity website.
TIPS
Scam of the day – August 31, 2026 – Back to School Shopping Scams
The new school year is just around the corner and school shopping is in high gear for many parents and students. Much of back to school shopping, like other shopping, is done online and people are constantly looking for bargains from trusted companies such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Scammers are constantly setting up phony retail websites. Some of these phony websites are for totally made up companies that you have never heard of, but which are offering tremendous discounts on popular goods while other phony websites are counterfeit websites of legitimate online retailers. Unfortunately, it is very easy for scammers using AI to construct phony websites with legitimate appearing logos of companies you trust. In 2024 the cybersecurity software company Trend Micro announced that it had found more than 205,000 phony websites touting back to school sales and AI has made the problem worse this year.
So how do you determine if you are on a legitimate website?
TIPS
Scam of the day – August 30, 2026 – Charges Brought in Unusual Romance-Investment Scam
Daejon Love and Taylor Jamie Chan were recently arrested and charged with operating an unusual version of a romance-investment scam in which they are alleged to have stolen $1.3 million from 26 women in California, Idaho, Washington and Oregon and the FBI believes that the true number of people scammed by them is much higher. Romance scams used to follow the pattern of scammers meeting people online and pretending to quickly fall deeply in love with them and then convince their victims to send the scammers money for various fake emergencies. The scam has evolved, however to where now the scammers still feign love, but instead of asking for a gift of money, they tell their victims that they have a great investment that is making the scammer massive amounts of money and they want to offer that investment to their targeted victim. Of course, there is no investment and the victims lose everything they “invested” with their new found love.
What is unusual in this case is that Daejon Love is alleged to have claimed that he was a wealthy professional football player for the San Francisco 49ers and even provided videos and photos that appeared to support his claim. In fact, some Google searches and AI even supported this false claim. False information provided by AI and in search engine searches is called “hallucinations” and the reason that this occurs is that both AI and more common search engines harvest their information from the Internet and if a scammer is able to place enough false information in enough places, it can be reported as accurate.
TIPS
No one should ever invest in anything that they don’t understand and with someone whom they have not researched. Rather than trusting social media posts and search engine searches, if the victims of Love had checked the roster for the San Francisco 49ers they would have learned he was scamming them. Further, Chan was presented by Love as his successful financial advisor, but if anyone had researched Chan, they would have learned that he had utterly no licenses. financial credentials or affiliations that a financial advisor must have.
As for the investments provided by Love and Chan, according to the FBI there were no investments. Love just kept the money “invested” with him. The only evidence of investments were phony investment records provided by Love and Chan. If the victims had done proper research into the investments they would have found that the investments were not registered anywhere and there was no independent documentation for the investments.
It is easy for someone to be emotionally manipulated by a romance scammer so it is very important if a romantic partner offers investment advice to be particularly skeptical. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
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Scam of the day – August 29, 2026 – Vacation Photos Lead to Identity Theft
Phony text messaging, called smishing, which purport to be from your credit card company is a scam about which I have been warning you for years, but is a scam that has dramatically increased recently due to AI. Scammers are harvesting vacation photos from social media and using AI to analyze the photos even if there was no attached metadata to identify where the photo was taken or directly indicated in your social media. They then send text messages to their targeted victims posing as the victims’ credit card company informing them that unusual activity was detected while they were traveling to wherever they actually were. Having the name of the city or country where the targeted victim was traveling included in the text message makes it much more believable. They then provide either a phone number or a link that will take you to an AI created counterfeit website of the credit card company where you will be prompted to provide credit card information that will lead to identity theft.
The best course of action when you receive such a text message, if you have a concern that it may be legitimate, is to merely independently contact your credit card company to determine whether or not the text message was a scam, but be careful that you do not misdial the telephone number of your credit card company as some scammers purchase phone numbers similar to those of legitimate credit card companies hoping that they will receive calls from unwary consumers who may have merely misdialed the telephone number of their bank or credit card company.
TIPS
Regardless of how official such a text message may appear, you should never provide personal information to anyone in response to a telephone call, email or text message because in none of those situations can you be sure that the person contacting you is legitimate. If you do receive a communication from a bank, government agency or any other person or entity that you think might have a legitimate need for personal information from you, you should call the real entity at a telephone number that you know is legitimate in order to ascertain the truth.
It is a good idea to wait until you have returned from vacation to post your photos and when you do post them on social media you should use your privacy settings to limit their viewing to just your actual friends.
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Scam of the day – August 28, 2026 – FTC Settles Investment Training Scam Lawsuit Against IM Mastery Academy
In 2025, the FTC and the state of Nevada filed a civil lawsuit against IM Mastery Academy and its principals in which they accused them of operating a deceptive investment training and multi-level marketing scheme that scammed consumers of more than $1.2 billion. IM Mastery Academy lured its victims through misleading marketing on social media including Instagram, YouTube and TikTok that featured false and deceptive income claims and the depiction of luxury lifestyles. At the heart of the scam were subscriptions to foreign currency trading tools and educational content, however, the real profits came from recruiting new members into the scam rather than successful foreign currency trading. The overwhelming majority of participants lost money or earned little through their participation in the program.
In 2025 preliminary injunctions were ordered against the company and its senior officials freezing their assets. This was followed by a civil settlement judgment of $795.8 million followed by a series of settlements and forfeitures of millions more against the principals and the company itself which concluded in July.
TIPS
Never rush into any investment or other opportunity being sold through a seminar or on social media until you have carefully investigated the people selling their investment or system as well as the investment or system itself. Always be a bit skeptical as to testimonials which should also be carefully investigated before being relied upon. Before investing with anyone, you should investigate the person offering to sell you the investment with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Central Registration Depository. This will tell you if the broker is licensed and if there have been disciplinary procedures against him or her. You can also check with your own state’s securities regulation office for similar information. Many investment advisers will not be required to register with the SEC, but are required to register with your individual state’s securities regulators. You can find your state’s agency by going to the website of the North American Securities Administrators Association. https://www.nasaa.org/investor-education/how-to-check-your-broker-or-investment-adviser/ Many investment advisers will not be required to register with the SEC, but are required to register with your individual state securities regulators. You should also check with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for information about the particular investment adviser. https://www.finra.org/investors/protect-your-money/ask-and-check
It is also important to remember that you should never invest in something that you do not completely understand. This was a mistake that many of Bernie Madoff’s victims made. You also may want to check out the SEC’s investor education website at www.investor.gov. Scammers can be very convincing and it may sound like there is a great opportunity for someone to make some money, but you must be careful that the person making money is not the scam artist taking yours.
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Scam of the day – August 27, 2026 – FTC Warns About Law Firm Inheritance Letter Scam
The Federal Trade Commission is warning people about a scam which begins when you get a letter from a law firm informing you that they are probating an estate in which they have not been able to locate an heir, however, they then inform you that you are the heir to the million dollar estate. The letter then offers to split the value of the estate with you, some charities and their law firm. If you respond to the letter, you will be asked to provide personal and financial information including your Social Security number and to pay a fee. If this sounds vaguely familiar it is because it is just a variation of the Nigerian email scam that continues to plague the online community.
Although it may seem that the Nigerian email scam began in the era of the Internet, the origin of the scam actually goes back to 1588 when it was known as the Spanish Prisoner Scam. In those days, a letter was sent to the victim purportedly from someone on behalf of a wealthy aristocrat who was imprisoned in Spain under a false name. The identity of the nobleman was not revealed for security reasons, but the victim was asked to provide money to obtain the release of the aristocrat, who, it was promised, would reward the money-contributing scam victim with a vast reward that included, in some circumstances, the Spanish prisoner’s beautiful daughter in marriage.
In the most common versions of this scam circulating on the Internet today, you are promised great sums of money if you assist a Nigerian or someone elsewhere in his effort to transfer money out of his country. While we refer to this type of scam as the Nigerian Email Scam, not all versions of this scam have a connection to Nigeria as indicated in the email copied below. Common variations of the scam include the movement of embezzled funds by corrupt officials, a dying man who wants to make charitable gifts, a minor bank official trying to move the money of deceased foreigners out of his bank without the government taking it or, as in this case, abandoned funds.
In most variations of this scam, although you are told initially that you do not need to contribute anything financially to the endeavor, you soon learn that it is necessary for you to contribute increasingly large amounts of money for various reasons, such as fees, bribes, insurance or taxes before you can get anything. Of course, the victim ends up paying money to the scammer, but never receives anything in return.
TIPS
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Scam of the day – August 26, 2026 – Texas Sheriff Warns About Used Car VIN Cloning
Every car has a Vehicle Identification Number or VIN that is unique for each car. Scammers are taking photos of the VIN number which can be found just below the windshield on the driver’s side of a car that is the same make, model and year of a car that the scammers have stolen and then make a new metallic VIN plate with the cloned number and swap it out for the VIN number of the car the stolen car. They then offer their stolen car for sale. Meril Bauter responded to an ad for a 2019 Toyota 4Runner on Facebook Marketplace. The scammer sent the VIN number which Ms. Bauter used to do a VIN search and a Carfax search and everything checked out fine even though the actual car was a stolen car whose real VIN had been removed. She then paid $40,000 in cash to the scammer and registered her car. It wasn’t until three years later that the scam was discovered and the car was seized by law enforcement due to its being a stolen car. Fortunately, Farmers Insurance, Bauter’s automobile insurance company paid her claim.
Recently, the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office in Texas issued a warning about organized criminal gangs including some linked to the Sinaloa cartel were stealing cars, and cloning VIN numbers to make the cars they then sold on social media appear legitimate.
So how do you protect yourself from being a victim of VIN cloning?
TIPS
The VIN number is found not only on the dashboard by the windshield, but also in the front door. Make sure they both match. Also, run your finger over the VIN plate and look for signs that the VIN plate may have been switched. You also should compare the VIN number to the VIN number that appears on the Title and all other documents that relate to the car. It is also important to get a Carfax or other vehicle history report on the vehicle and review it carefully for any discrepancies. This scam often doesn’t involve cars that are the exact make model and year of the stolen car. Additionally, you should have a mechanic inspect any used car you are considering buying for indications that it is not as represented.
Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
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Scam of the day – August 25, 2025 – Why You Should Keep Your Cell Phone Number Private
Identity thieves use legal and illegal online sources to gather their victims’ personal information, such as their Social Security number, address, and date of birth and use that information for purposes of identity theft which is a significant threat to everyone. One important piece of information that many people don’t realize should be kept as private as possible is their cell phone number. These days your cell phone number is tied to so much of what we do.
When a criminal knows your cell phone number, he or she can leverage that number through commonly available legal databases such as White Pages Premium and learn information such as your current address, past addresses, the names of your family members and more. Many services allow password resets through text messages enabling criminals to spoof your number and reset passwords to many of your accounts. The criminal can also use the number to gain access to your social media accounts and can most significantly use the information gained to answer security questions that would allow the criminal to do a SIM swap whereby your cell phone number would be transferred to a phone of the criminal and thereby defeat dual factor authentication where you get a text message or a code sent to your phone when you go to access your bank account online or any other account that requires significant security.
So what can you do to protect yourself?
TIPS
Limit providing your cell phone number to people and companies as much as possible. You also may want to consider getting a second phone to use when you have concerns about security. You also can use apps such as Google Voice https://voice.google.com/about or Burner https://www.burnerapp.com/ that will enable you to create different numbers to use for calls and text messages.
As for dual factor authentication, while sending a code or text message to your cell phone is a simple and effective method of dual factor authentication, you may wish to consider other forms of dual factor authentication such as apps that will generate temporary security codes such as Authy https://authy.com/ or Google Authenticator https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en
Perhaps the best thing you can do to protect your SIM card from SIM swapping is to set up a PIN or password to be used for access to your mobile service provider account. This will help prevent a criminal from calling your carrier posing as you and convincing your mobile carrier to swap your SIM card to the criminal’s phone merely by providing personal identifying information or answering a security question.
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Scam of the day – August 24, 2026 – FBI Warns About Cryptocurrency Recovery Scams
In recent years, I have written many times about the myriad of cryptocurrency scams that have cost people billions of dollars. According to the FBI, Americans lost more than 11.36 billion dollars to cryptocurrency investment scams in 2025 which represents a 22% increase from 2024.. In some instances, law enforcement has been able to recover some of those lost funds, but in many other instances, the money is lost forever. According to the FBI, scammers, posing as representatives of companies that falsely claim to be able to recover funds lost to cryptocurrency scams, are luring in victims through social media, messaging platforms or advertisements. Often the scammers claim affiliation with law enforcement, federal agencies or legitimate legal services providers, but it is all a lie. In return for a substantial up-front payment, the scammers claim they can recover all of the funds lost to a cryptocurrency scam. Of course, this is a lie and anyone who pays the fee loses that money.
TIPS
No private company can issue a seizure order to a cryptocurrency exchange. This is only done by internal processes of the exchanges or in response to court ordered legal process as has been done by the Justice Department. If you are contacted by any of these companies offering assistance in getting back your lost money, do not give personal information to them as this information can be used to make you a victim of identity theft.
Legitimate law enforcement agencies such as the FBI which works extensively in the area of cryptocurrency scams do not charge any fees for investigating cryptocurrency crimes or for efforts to return funds to people who have been scammed. If you are a victim of a cryptocurrency scam, you should contact the local office of the FBI for assistance.
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