Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – February 13, 2023 – FTC Sending Refunds to Victims of MoneyGram Scams
A common theme in many scams, including phony lottery scams and the infamous grandparent scam, is that the scammers will require the victim to wire money or use gift cards rather than use a credit card or a check. Once money has been wired or gift card information provided, it is all but impossible to trace or stop payment. In response to this problem, the Federal Trade Commission investigated both Western Union and MoneyGram and settled claims brought against them in 2017 and 2009 respectively. According to the terms of both settlements, the companies agreed to make substantial changes in how they did business in order to reduce the amount of scammers using their services. While Western Union is apparently adhering to the terms of its settlement, the FTC determined that MoneyGram was not implementing the fraud prevention standards agreed upon and consequently, the FTC brought new charges against MoneyGram which were settled in 2018. Among the terms of the new settlement was a payment by MoneyGram of funds to the FTC to be returned to people who were victimized by scammers through MoneyGram between 2013 and 2017. Now four years later, the FTC is refunding 115.8 million dollars to the almost 40,000 victims of MoneyGram scams.
TIPS
First, in regard to avoiding scams like this in the first place, whenever anyone you are dealing with requests that payment be made by way of a wire transfer or gift card, you should immediately be skeptical because of the near impossibility of getting your money back if the deal is a scam or anything goes wrong. Using a credit card for payment is much safer.
As for victims of scams where MoneyGram was used for payment between 2013 and 2017, the refund checks are finally being sent to people who submitted claims during the open claims process period that I informed you of in 2021. For more information about the program, you can call the MoneyGram Remission Administrator at 844-269-2630.
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Scam of the day – February 12, 2023 – Publishers Clearing House Scammer Indicted
Two days ago, Alrick Anthony Gardner was indicted on charges alleging he operated a sweepstakes scam that stole millions of dollars from unsuspecting elderly victims. According to the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, Gardner and others working with him called their targeted victims telling them that they had won a Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, but that in order to receive their winnings they needed to pay fees and taxes. In an effort to make their scam look legitimate, the scammers mailed the victims fake documents including a counterfeit “winning notification” letter that appeared to come from Publishers Clearing House along with a phony letter that appeared to come from the IRS informing the victims of the need to pay taxes on their winnings to the scammers.
Recently there has been an increase in reports of scammers calling people on the telephone and telling them that they have won one of the Publishers Clearing House lotteries, but that they have to pay fees or taxes before being able to claim their prize. In addition there are reports of targeted victims receiving phony notifications by regular mail that they have won a Publishers Clearing House lottery, but that again they must pay fees or taxes before being able to receive their prize.
It is hard to win any lottery. It is impossible to win one that you have not even entered and yet scam artists have found that it is extremely lucrative to scam people by convincing them that they have won various lotteries. With so many people entered into the Publishers Clearing House lotteries, it is easier for scammers to convince people that they have won.
Most lottery scams involve the victim being told that they need to pay taxes or administrative fees directly to the lottery sponsor; however no legitimate lottery requires you to do so.
As with many effective scams, the pitch of the scammer may seem legitimate. Income taxes are due on lottery winnings, but with legitimate lotteries they are either deducted from the lottery winnings before you receive your prize or you are responsible for paying the taxes directly to the IRS. No legitimate lottery collects taxes on behalf of the IRS from lottery winners. Other times, the scammer tell the “winners” that in order to collect their prizes, they need to pay administrative fees. Often, the victims are told to send the fees back to the scammer by prepaid gift cards. Prepaid cards are a favorite of scammers because they are the equivalent of sending cash. They are impossible to stop or trace. Again, no legitimate lottery requires you to pay administrative fees in order to claim your prize.
TIPS
Fortunately, there is an easy way to know, when you are contacted by Publishers Clearing House by phone, email or text message informing you that you have won one of its major multi-million dollar prizes, whether you have been contacted by the real Publishers Clearing House. Publishers Clearing House only contacts major prize winners in person or by regular mail. They do not contact winners by phone, email or text message so if you do receive a notification of your winning one of their major multi-million dollar prizes by those means of communication you know it is a scam.
Even if the Caller ID on your phone indicates the call is from Publishers Clearing House, it is very easy for a scammer to use a technique called “spoofing” to make it appear that the call is coming from Publishers Clearing House rather than the scammer who is really making the call. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
In addition, no winners of the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes are ever required to make a payment of any kind to claim their prize so if you are told that you have won, but are required to make any kind of payment before you can claim your prize, you can be sure that it is a scam. As for other lotteries, remember, you can’t win a lottery you haven’t entered and no legitimate lottery asks you to pay them administrative fees or taxes.
Also, as I often tell you, it is always a red flag that you are involved with a scam when you are asked to pay for anything with gift cards. Gift cards are a favorite method of payment for scammers because they are easy to convert into cash and impossible to trace.
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Scam of the day – February 11, 2023 – Watch Out For Earthquake Charity Scams
Natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires are common occurrences. Recently parts of Syria and Turkey have been suffered devastating earthquakes causing incredible damage and tremendous loss of life. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and earthquakes bring out the best in people who want to donate to charities to help the victims. Unfortunately natural disasters also bring out the worst in scammers who are quick to take advantage of the generosity of people by contacting them posing as charities, but instead of collecting funds to help the victims of these natural disasters, these scam artists steal the money for themselves under false pretenses.
Charities are not subject to the federal Do Not Call List so even if you are signed up for the federal Do Not Call List, legitimate charities are able to contact you by phone. The problem is that whenever you are get a phone call, you can never be sure as to who is really calling you so you may be contacted either by a fake charity or a scammer posing as a legitimate charity. Using a technique called spoofing, the scammers can manipulate your Caller ID to make it appear that the call is coming from a legitimate charity when it is not. Similarly, when you are solicited for a charitable contribution by email or text message you cannot be sure as to whether the person contacting you is legitimate or not.
TIPS
Never provide credit card information over the phone to anyone whom you have not called or in response to an email or text message. Before you give to any charity, you may wish to check out the charity with http://www.charitynavigator.org where you can learn whether or not the charity itself is a scam. You can also see how much of the money that the legitimate charity collects actually goes toward its charitable purposes and how much it uses for fund raising and administrative costs. Charitynavigator.org has a list of specific highly-rated charities that they recommend if you wish to assist people harmed by the Syrian and Turkish earthquake. These charities include Direct Relief and Operation Blessing International. Here is a link to their recommendations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/discover-charities/where-to-give/earthquakes-turkey-syria/
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Scam of the day – February 10, 2023 – Australian Loses $22,000 to Sophisticated Bank Text Message Scam
Recently, a man in Australia was scammed out of $22,000 through a sophisticated text message scam. It started with a text message that appeared to be an alert from his bank informing him that someone had just tried to setup a payment from his account to a new payee. The text message went on to indicate that if the new account payment was not legitimate to contact the bank at a phone number provided in the email. One reason that scams like this are often successful is that people do sign to receive text message alerts from their banks and the phone number shown as sending the text message appeared to be that of the Australian’s bank.
In a panic that someone was trying to access his bank account, the Australian called the number and taken through a long discussion with someone who sounded very much like a legitimate bank employee. At the end of the discussion, the phony bank employee told the targeted victim that it was necessary for the victim to transfer a randomly generated amount of money to an account manager at the bank. Why this would be something that should be done if someone’s account had really been hacked makes no sense at all, but by that time, the scammers, who often have a knowledge of psychology that Freud would have envied, had gained the confidence of their victim convinced the victim to transfer $22,000 to an account designated by the bank. He was told that following the transfer, he would receive a confirmation text and his account would be safe.
Of course, he didn’t receive a confirmation text. The entire process was a scam and the Australian has lost his $22,000.
TIPS
At the crux of this scam is “spoofing” by which a scammer can make a phone call or text message appear to come from whatever number the scammer wishes use. In this case, although the text message did not come from the victim’s bank, the victim’s Caller ID showed the phone number of the bank as the sender. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
Legitimate bank text messages will never ask you to provide sensitive personal information or ask you to make a payment in the event of a possible security breach to your account. If you need to speak with someone in response to such a text message, don’t use the phone number contained in the text message, but rather call the bank at a telephone number you know is legitimate.
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Scam of the day – February 9, 2023 – Watch Out For Valentine’s Day Scams
Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching. This is a very important day to many people including scammers and identity thieves who always manage to find an opportunity in whatever is current or popular to scam you out of your money. There are many Valentine’s day scams, but the most prevalent are phony florists, online dating scams, phony Valentine’s day electronic greeting cards and delivery scams.
Scammers set up phony florist websites or send you an email purporting to be from a local florist with a great deal you merely have to click on in order to save a great deal of money on flowers.
Online dating scams are plentiful with most revolving around scammers quickly professing true love for you and then asking for money.
Electronic greeting cards are a great way to send a Valentine’s day card at the last minute when you forget to get one ahead of time, but phony electronic greeting cards can be filled with malware and if you click on the link to open the card, you will infect your computer or other electronic device with malware that will steal your personal information and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.
A common delivery scam operating on Valentine’s day involves a delivery of a gift basket of wine and flowers to you, however the person delivering the gift basket requests a small payment, generally five dollars or less, as a delivery fee because alcohol is being delivered. The person delivering the basket will only accept a credit card as payment. When you turn over your credit card, the scammer then takes down the information and runs up charges on your credit card.
TIPS
Never trust an online florist or other retailer until you have checked them out to make sure that they are legitimate. Otherwise, you might be turning over your credit card information to a scammer. It is also important to remember, as I constantly warn you, that you can never be confident when you receive an email, particularly one with a link in it or an attachment to download, if the person sending you the email is who they claim to be. Clicking on links sent by scammers can download keystroke logging malware on to your computer or other electronic device that will, in turn, enable the identity thief to steal personal information from your computer and use it to make you a victim of identity theft. Always confirm the legitimacy of an email or text message before clicking on links contained in the message.
As for online dating scams, of course you should be wary of anyone who immediately indicates he or she is in love with you and then asks for money. Some other telltale signs of an online romance scam include wanting to communicate with you right away on an email account outside of the dating site, claiming to be working abroad, asking for your address and poor grammar which is often a sign of a foreign romance scammer. Many romance scams originate in Eastern Europe.
Be skeptical of any online greeting card, particularly if it does not indicate from whom it is being sent. Be very wary of a card sent by “an admirer.” Even if you recognize the name of the sender, confirm that it was really sent from that person before you click on the link and open the card. It could be filled with malware.
In regard to the delivery scam, there is no special delivery charge for alcohol so if someone requires a payment for such a delivery and on top of that won’t accept cash, merely decline the gift.
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Scam of the day – February 8, 2023 – Investment Advice Company Paying 1.7 Million Dollars as Penalty for Deceiving Customers
The Federal Trade Commission recently settled its lawsuit against investment advice company WealthPress and its owners, Roger Scott and Conor Lynch for using deceptive and misleading claims to induce consumers to purchase their bogus investment advising services. WealthPress represented that their recommendations were based on a proprietary system that guaranteed success when, in fact, most of their customers lost money after paying as much as thousands of dollars to sign up for WealthPress’ recommendations.
WealthPress used deceptive and misleading videos to lure people into buying their system. In one video, WealthPress said, “I’ll show you how you can potentially make $28,840 dollars – or more-every single week. With quick simple… trades that require zero market knowledge or trading experience.”
Under the terms of the settlement, WealthPress, Scott and Lynch are paying 1.2 million dollars to the FTC to be used to pay refunds to the victims of their scam. WealthPress, Scott and Lynch will also be paying a $500,000 civil penalty. I will keep you informed as terms of the repayment become known.
TIPS
The sale of business opportunities is regulated by the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule which requires the sellers of business opportunities to provide a one-page disclosure document outlining important facts about the offering including informing you about any legal actions in which the sellers have been involved. The disclosure also has to provide you with details as to any refund policy and provide a list of references. Additionally, as is always the case with these types of scams, if they make claims about how much money you can earn through their scheme, they must provide you with an Earnings Claim Statement that indicates in detail the specifics of those claims and the opportunity to see written proof of the claims.
Before considering any kind of business opportunity, you should have a lawyer review these required disclosures and if the person offering you the business opportunity does not provide these documents, you should consider that a red flag that this is a scam. You also should investigate the people behind the offering as well as the particular type of business opportunity.
Finally, as always if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. WealthPress’ promises of high returns at no risk are obviously too good to be true.
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Scam of the day – February 7, 2023 – Super Bowl Betting Scams
Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles is only a few days away and it is estimated that this game could have the largest amount of Super Bowl best in history with estimates of as much as a billion dollars expected to be bet on the outcome of the game. Until 2019, Nevada was the only state with legalized sports betting, but now thirty-six states have legalized sports gambling
Of course, however, anything attracting that much public interest has also attracted interest from scammers around the world who have set up bogus online betting websites that may appear legitimate, but end up stealing your money and not paying anything to “winners” using their websites.
So how do you know which sites you can trust?
TIPS
The first step to take is to determine if online sports betting is legal in your particular state. This link will inform you if sports gambling is legal in your state as well as provide information about legitimate sports gambling companies as well as indicate which states they are licensed in and how to place a wager. https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/us/ Be wary of sports betting sites that are not based in the United States.
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Scam of the day – February 6, 2023 – Homograph Attacks: Something Else to Worry About
Chances are you haven’t heard of the term, “homograph attack,” but it refers to a cyberthreat that can easily result in your becoming a victim of identity theft or a scam victim. Homograph attacks have been around since the early 2000s, but have increased dramatically since 2020 when the federal government first warned about them. The attack starts with an email from what appears to be a legitimate source such as your bank informing you of an emergency requiring you to either click on a link or provide personal information. Savvy people will always be skeptical whenever asked to click on a link that could contain malware or provide personal information that could lead to identity theft and the first thing we are all trained to do is to look at the email address of the sender. If the email address of the sender has no relation to the supposed sender, you can be confident that it is a scam. This is the case because scammers often use botnets of hacked computers and the email addresses of innocent people to send out their phishing emails. However, in the case of homograph attacks, the phony email address of the sender appears amazingly similar to the real address of the company or government agency the scammers is posing as. Reproduced below is an example of this that first appeared in a Facebook posting in 2019 and has been shared many times. I must admit that I did not recognize the difference until I saw the explanation.
Homograph attacks exploit similarities between the Roman alphabet used in the English language and the Cyrillic alphabet developed for Slavic speaking people which is used in more than 50 languages including Russian. In the example below in the real email address the Roman “a” is used while in the second phony email address the Cyrillic version is used which is easy to miss. Similarly without even changing the alphabet, some scammers will replace a lowercase L “l” with the number “1” which can also be easily missed.
TIPS
Remember my motto, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” You have to be skeptical whenever you receive an email or text message asking for personal information or requesting you to click on a link because you can never be sure if the communication is legitimate or not at initial viewing. Always absolutely confirm whether the communication is legitimate before ever providing personal information or clicking on a link that could contain harmful malware. Phishing emails will always make it appear that there is an emergency to which you must respond immediately, but it is important to take your time to make sure that the communication is legitimate before responding.
Also, don’t rely on your security software to totally protect you because while it is critical to have good security software on all of your devices and to keep it up to date with the latest updates, the most updated security software will not protect you from malware that exploits zero day defects which are software vulnerabilities not yet discovered. It generally takes the security software companies about a month before to come up with defenses against the latest strains of malware.
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Scam of the day – February 5, 2023 – QR Code Scams Getting Worse
Quick Response codes or QR codes have been around since 1994, but they have become much more popular in recent years and can be commonly found on parking meters, in restaurants and in advertising. When you can a QR code with your phone, it will take you to a website. Unfortunately as the popularity of QR codes has increased with the public, its popularity has also increased with scammers who are setting up phony QR codes to lure you to their bogus website where they solicit personal information used for identity theft or persuade you to make a payment with a credit card or even in some instances, merely by scanning the phony QR code, you will download harmful malware such as ransomware or even malware that will enable the scammer to take over your email account.
The FBI warned about a dramatic increase in QR code scams in 2022 and the problem is only getting worse.
The most common places where you will find phony QR codes is on parking meters where the phony QR code is put on as a sticker over the legitimate QR code, in restaurants, in phishing emails, on social media posts or on unordered packages delivered to your home.
TIPS
The first step to take to protect yourself is to always check the URL of any website the QR code takes you to that requests a payment or personal information. If the URL does not begin with https, but only begins with http, you know it is a scam. In restaurants, confirm with your server that the QR code is taking you to the correct site and always pay directly in person and never through the QR code. In phishing emails that may appear to come from a legitimate source such as Amazon, refrain from using the QR code and go directly to your account rather than through the QR code. If you receive an unordered package with a QR code to scan for instructions to return it, go directly to your account at the legitimate company, such as Amazon rather than use the QR code. And just like you shouldn’t click on links in social media posts unless you have absolutely confirmed they are legitimate, the same holds true for QR codes in social media. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
Finally, there are companies like Kaspersky that have free QR code scanner apps that will not only scan the QR code, but also let you know if it is legitimate and prevent the downloading of malware from bogus QR codes. Here is a link to Kaspersky’s QR code scanner. https://www.kaspersky.com/qr-scanner
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Scam of the day – February 4, 2023 – Watch Out for Phony Customer Service Phone Number Scam
Clever scam artists are increasingly setting up phony websites that appear to be for customer service or tech support of many of the companies with which we do business. Often they either purchase an ad to appear at the top of a search engine search or they manage to manipulate the algorithms used by Google and other search engines to make their phony customer service number appear high on a search. They also purchase telephone numbers that are a single digit off of the legitimate phone numbers for many companies’ tech support or customer support in order to take advantage of common consumer misdials. Compounding the problem is the fact that many companies, particularly social media companies, do not provide a customer service telephone number to call and speak to a real person about your problem. They only provide online support.
In 2020 I told you about Dr. Melanye Maclin of Maryland who needed help with her Facebook account and obtained what she thought was the phone number for tech support for Facebook which she got from a posting on Facebook’s Help Community Chat board. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t have a tech support phone number. The phony tech support number on the chat board was posted by a scammer. When Dr. Maclin called the phony number, she was instructed by the scammer to enable remote access to her phone which Dr. Maclin did. Unfortunately, this led to the scammers gaining access to her CashApp account through which the scammers stole $6,332.
And it isn’t just people who are taken to these phony search engine listings. Alexa, Siri and Google Home are susceptible to being scammed because they merely pick the top position in a search engine search and may be putting you in touch with a scammer so don’t bother Alexa with looking up and calling tech support or customer service numbers.
TIPS
The best place to look for a telephone number for customer support or tech support is right on your bill or the legitimate website of the company. Even when you do call legitimate tech support or customer service telephone numbers take extra care to make sure that you are dialing correctly and not calling a clever scammer who may have purchased a telephone number that is a digit off of the correct phone number in an attempt to ensnare people who may misdial the number.
Among the social media services that do not provide tech support by phone are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Here are links to tech support for those social media services:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/
Instagram: https://help.instagram.com/
Snapchat: https://support.snapchat.com/en-US
Twitter: https://support.twitter.com/ TikTok https://support.tiktok.com/en/
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