Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – October 15, 2025 – Pastor Gift Card Scam Continues to Claim Victims
I first warned you about this particular scam in 2017, but it has recently resurfaced in many places around the country. Most recently, parishioners of the Nativity Lutheran Church in Bend, Oregon received emails that appeared to come from their Pastor, Chris Kramer in which they were asked to buy Target gift cards and provide the numbers of the gift cards to the phony Pastor Kramer to help with a “delicate” situation. The email contained the photo of the pastor and was written in a manner that closely followed his writing style. The scammers may have been aided by AI in doing so. This wasn’t even the first time this type of scam had targeted parishioners of the church. A similar less sophisticated version of the email was done five years ago.
Generally in this scam, local church, synagogue or mosque members receive what appear to be emails from their religious leaders asking them to make contributions through gift cards and credit cards. In 2017 the scams primarily asked targeted victims to wire money to accounts and people named in the emails. The emails come from email addresses that appear at first glance to be that of the local religious leaders, but a closer inspection will disclose that it is coming from a different email provider than what their religious leader. Often, the scammers harvest information from church websites to make their phony requests appear legitimate.
TIPS
The key to protecting yourself from this scam is to first be skeptical whenever you get a request to wire money or make a payment through gift cards because once money has been wired, it is gone forever which is why it is a favorite method of payment for scammers. As for gift cards, once you provide the numbers from the gift cards, the scammers utilize the gift cards to make purchases that they quickly sell in order to get cash. No religious institution solicits gift card payments nor does the IRS which is why when someone posing as a religious institution or the IRS asks for a payment through gift cards you can be sure it is a scam. The second thing that we all should do is to always confirm the legitimacy of any request for a donation of any kind before making a payment.
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Scam of the day – October 14, 2025 – Facebook Cloning Continues to be a Problem
Recently I got a Facebook friend request from a good friend of mine. The only problem was that we were already were Facebook friends.
If one of your friends received a Facebook friend request that appeared to come from you, it does not mean that your account was hacked. It does mean however that, most likely, your account was cloned in the sense that someone has set up a Facebook account or some other social media account in your name or a slight variation of it in order to trick people into trusting messages that they post, to lure them into scams or to trick them into clicking on links containing malware.
This is nothing new. Facebook estimates that there are as many as 60 million phony cloned Facebook accounts including hundreds of its founder Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook tries to remove the cloned accounts when it becomes aware of them, but they consistently spring up again soon thereafter. You also should let your friends know that your account has been cloned and warn them not to accept any new friend requests from you. If you do find that someone has set up a Facebook account in your name, you should contact Facebook as soon as possible in order for Facebook to take action to cancel the phony cloned account. Here is a link you can use to report such a phony or cloned account. https://www.facebook.com/help/306643639690823?helpref=uf_permalink
TIPS
As indicated above, if you do receive a friend request from someone who already is a Facebook friend of yours, you should contact the friend to let them know that their Facebook account has been cloned so they can report it to Facebook and get the phony, cloned account taken down. It is also important to remember that there will be times that you are contacted by what appear to be real friends or acquaintances where the truth is that it really is not them contacting you, but someone posing as them. Never click on links in any email or text message unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication is legitimate. Never provide personal information in response to any communication as well until you have confirmed that it is legitimate. As I always warn you, trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
This is probably also a good time to remind you about steps you can take to actually make your Facebook account more impervious to actually being hacked. The first thing you should do is make sure you have a strong password. For some advice about choosing a strong password, go to the Search scams tab in http://www.scamicide.com and write in “strong password” which will bring up a number of Scams of the day in which I described how to pick a strong password.
You should also enable two factor authentication for your account which will dramatically strengthen the security of your Facebook account. Here is a link with more information about how to install dual factor authentication for your Facebook account. https://m.facebook.com/help/148233965247823?helpref=faq_content
You also may want to review your privacy settings on Facebook to make them less vulnerable to hackers. Here is a link with more information about adjusting your privacy settings on Facebook. https://m.facebook.com/help/193677450678703?helpref=hc_fnav&refid=69
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Scam of the day – October 13, 2025 – Halloween Costume Scam
Celebrating Halloween has become a major event in recent years with many adults searching for elaborate costumes and of course whenever many people are interested in something, scammers appear ready to take advantage of that interest. Scammers have set up phony Halloween costume websites, often posing as legitimate costume websites. Often the ads for their phony websites are posted on social media as well as appearing high in search engine searches because the scammers either purchase an advertisement in order to get a high position in a search engine search or because they are skilled enough to manipulate the algorithms the search engines use to obtain a high ranking. Pictured below is one of the phony ads that has appeared in social media. Anyone ordering online from one of these phony websites will end up providing their credit card to a scammer.
TIPS
The 90% discount in the advertisement pictured above should give you pause because generally anytime the price is too good to be true, it is a scam. Also, whenever you order anything online you should use your credit card rather than your debit card because the protection you get from fraud when using your credit card is much greater than the protection you get when using your debit card.
Scam of the day – October 12, 2025 – Credit Union Warns About Text and Phone Imposter Scams
The VacationLand Federal Credit Union in Ohio is warning people about scammers posing as the bank calling and texting people, telling their targeted victims that there have been suspicious charges made to their account and when the targeted victim says that they did not make the charge, the scammer offers help resolving the problem. In a relatively new development in this type of scam, the scammers tell the targeted victim that it is suspected that the bank’s branches have been compromised by a rogue employee and therefore the targeted victim should not go to the bank to deal with the situation, but rather should download an app they provide or give the scammer account number information, password information, passwords or the answer to the targeted victim’s online banking security question.
TIPS
While VacationLand Federal Credit Union is now issuing a warning, they are not the only bank reporting this type of scam. Whenever you get a call, email or text message, you can never be sure who is actually contacting you. Through the technique of spoofing, the scammer can make it appear as if the call or text is coming from your bank and emails can also appear to come from legitimate email addresses. No bank will contact you and ask for your password, security question answer or other personal information. If you have any concerns that such a communication may be legitimate, you should contact your bank at a phone number that you know is legitimate and not one furnished by the scammer.
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Scam of the day – October11, 2025 – Toll Text Message Scam Continues to Claim Victims
The E-Z Pass transponder system is available to drivers in twenty states and enables the drivers to avoid stopping to pay tolls when driving on toll roads. Instead they merely drive through a special lane where their transponder is electronically read. The tolls are then charged to a credit card on file with E-Z Pass. It is a very efficient system that works well. It also works well for scammers. In 2014 I told you about scammers sending phishing emails to residents of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and even Canada where they system is also used. The emails appeared official looking and carried the easily counterfeited logo of E-Z Pass. The message was short and read: “Dear customer, You have not paid for driving on a toll road. This invoice is sent repeatedly, please service your debt in the shortest possible time.” The phishing email of 2014 lured people into clicking on an infected link and providing personal information that would lead to identity theft.
Times have changed, but not that much. In 2021 I first told you how this scam had moved to text messaging rather than emails. Phishing text messages are called “smishing.” Again, the text message indicates that the account is overdue and provides a link to a fraudulent page where victims of the scam provide their credit card information to the scammers. The text message version of this scam became more widespread in 2024 as scammers used phishing kits available for purchase on the Dark Web to create realistic text message scams that appear to come from your state’s E-Z pass system. Recently Colorado issued a warning about this scam increasing in that state.
TIPS
Never click on links or download attachments in emails or text messages regardless of how official they may appear. You can never be sure as to whether it is legitimate or not. Your best course of action is, if you have any inclination that it may be legitimate, to contact the real company or agency and inquire as to the legitimacy of the contact. The websites the scammers lure you into going to in order to pay the phony overdue tolls often look legitimate, such as myturnpiketollservices.com. You can’t trust them.
It is also important to remember that scammers can manipulate your Caller ID through a technique called spoofing to make their text message appear to come from the legitimate number of a legitimate source. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone. If you have any concerns that you may owe tolls, call your E-Z Pass provider for your state making sure you are calling the real number or go the real website.
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Scam of the day – October 10, 2025 – PayPal Resolution Center Scam
PayPal is a popular payment service used successfully by many people particularly when making purchases through eBay. However, because it is so popular with the public, it is also popular with scammers who over the years have created numerous PayPal based scams about which I have reported to you in the past. Many of the scams involve phony invoices that lure you into clicking on malware infected links or providing personal information that is used to make you a victim of identity theft.
Today’s Scam of the day is one that has been around since 2018, but is resurfacing, as many scams do. It starts with a phony email purporting to be from PayPal that indicates that PayPal is investigating a payment reversal due to your receiving an unauthorized payment due to a transaction error. You are directed in the email to click on a link to login and access your PayPal Resolution Center. Don’t do it! Clicking on the link will take you to a phony PayPal website that will lure you into providing your password and other personal information that will lead to identity theft.
TIPS
Fortunately, this particular scam is easy to avoid. You should start out by being aware that this scam is active and remembering my motto, “BS – Be skeptical.” The easy way to avoid this scam is to never log into your PayPal account through a link in an email because to do so may merely take you to fake email account. Always access your PayPal account independently through your browser.
Legitimate emails from a company with which you do business would include the last four digits of your account and include your name rather than just your email address. Often these emails have neither.
Other telltale signs that this is a scam is that the email address of the sender often has no relation to PayPal, but is merely the email address of someone whose email account was hacked and made a part of a botnet to send out these phishing emails. Also, merely because the email may contain a PayPal logo does not mean that the email is legitimate. It is easy to counterfeit a PayPal logo.
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Scam of the day – October 9, 2025 – Canadian Family Loses $200,000 to Investment Scams
Last year Galina Bailey and her husband decided to invest their savings. Unfortunately, rather than consider established, legitimate investment advisers and companies they chose their invstment adviser through a post they saw on social media. When they realized after a few months that they had been scammed they turned to a lawyer to help them, but again she turned to social media to find a lawyer, choosing a UK based lawyer she found on Facebook rather than checking through legitimate lawyer referral services and ended up losing more money.
TIPS
In the United States, before investing with anyone, you should also investigate the person offering to sell you the investment with FINRA’s Central Registration Depository. http://www.finra.org/industry/crd 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 securities regulators. You can find your state’s agency by going to the website of the North American Securities Administrators Association .http://www.nasaa.org/2709/how-to-check-out-your-broker-or-investment-adviser/ For Canadians, such as Galina Bailey, they should go to the site AreTheyRegistered.ca, which is a public database that provides you with information as to whether the investment adviser or company is registered and qualified to do business in Canada.
Social Media is not the place to go to find an investment adviser or a lawyer. Moreover, the law protects social media companies from liability for third parties including scammers who post on their sites. Never invest in anything you do not understand and have not researched, nor should you invest with anyone or any company unless you have confirmed that they are legitimate.
Scam of the day – October 8, 2025 – Phony Parking Ticket Scam
For a year municipal authorities in San Francisco have warned about scammers putting phony, but legitimate appearing parking tickets on the cars of people. The phony parking tickets contain a QR code that takes you to a bogus, but legitimate appearing website where you are prompted to pay the ticket. Making things worse,if you fall for this scam, you are likely to lose more money than the amount of the phony parking fine because you have turned over your credit or debit card number to the scammers to use as they see fit. While this scam seems to have originated in California, it is spreading throughout the country.
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 scan 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. I have written about QR code scams called “quishing” since 2021.
TIPS
As I often say, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” If you receive such a parking ticket you may wish to confirm with your local parking authority whether it is legitimate or not before paying it.
Finally, there are companies 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.
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Scam of the day – October 7, 2025 – ParkMobile Class Action Settlement
ParkMobile the popular mobile and web parking payment platform suffered a data breach in 2021 resulting in personal information of 22 million of its users being compromised and then leaked on a Dark Web hacking forum making the information available to anyone accessing the site. The data stolen included names, cell phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, license plate numbers and vehicle information. A class action was filed by victims of the data breach and last week ParkMobile sent out emails notifying the affected members of the class that they would be receiving the princely sum of one dollar through a $0.25 discount on ParkMobile’s service fees for four uses. In addition, except in California where such a provision is illegal, victims of the data breach must use the credit by October 8, 2026. In order to use the credit you need to manually add it to your account using the discount code of P@rkMobile-$1 under Payment-Discounts before starting a session.
Fortunately, the data compromised in the data breach is not sensitive material such as Social Security numbers that can directly lead to identity theft, but the information is valuable to a scammer or identity thief who can use this information to craft convincing, legitimate appearing spear phishing emails to lure people into making payments, clicking on infected links or providing personal information that can lead to identity theft. ParkMobile is warning people of phony text messages that appear to come from ParkMobile asking them to click on a link to pay a phony balance online.
TIPS
Everyone, regardless of whether you are a victim of a data breach or not should freeze their credit if they have not already done so. Actually, freezing your credit is actually something everyone should do. It is free and easy to do. In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number. If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at all of the major credit reporting agencies. Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
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Scam of the day – October 6, 2025 – Chinese “Goddess of Wealth” Convicted in UK of Operating a Massive Ponzi Scheme
Zhimin Qian, the self-proclaimed “Goddess of Wealth” was convicted this week in the UK on money laundering charges related to a massive Ponzi scheme that she operated in China between 2014 and 2017 that cost her 128,000 victims $6.7 billion. Qian claimed that she was a fintech innovator, but the truth is that between 2014 and 2017 she operated her company, Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology in China as a Ponzi scheme soliciting investors with promises of daily dividends and guaranteed profits of as much as 300%. Investors flooded her with money despite there being no clear explanation of how her company generated protifts or even what its actual business model was. Like all Ponzi schemes she kept the scam alive by paying early investors with funds derived from later investors. She fled China in 2017 and went to the UK where she attempted to launder the stolen funds though cryptocurrencies, real estate and other assets.
TIPS
Of course, an immediate red flag is the too good to be true guaranteed profits and when this was coupled with no clear explanation of what the investment consisted of you had a recipe for disaster. No one should ever invest in anything that they don’t fully understand and Qian’s company offered no clear explanation as to how they generated profits. Before investing with a company you should always do research on it. Anyone doing research on Qian’s company would have found that it was not registered with any financial regulatory agency. In addition, anyone doing research into Zhimin Qian herself would have learned that she had no degrees, knowledge or licenses related to investments.
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