Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – December 20, 2025 – Cryptocurrency ATM Scams Surge 1,000%: How to Protect Yourself
A report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicates a 1,000 % increase in money lost to scammers through cryptocurrency ATMs in the last three years. Cryptocurrency ATMs look just like traditional ATMs, but instead of distributing cash, they take cash in exchange for cryptocurrency and enable the transfer of the deposited cash turned into cryptocurrency into crypto wallets. Due to the anonymity and immediacy of the cryptocurrency transfers done through a cryptocurrency ATM, it is a favorite method of payment for scammers.
Most of the scams using cryptocurrency ATMs involve imposter scams where the scammer poses as either a law enforcement officer, government official or someone providing tech support for a non-existent problem. What many of these imposter scams have in common is that they scare the targeted victim with a story about an emergency that requires them to take cash from their bank account and use a QR code provided by the scammer to deposit the money into the account of the scammer at a cryptocurrency ATM under the guise of protecting the funds. In other versions of the scams, victims are told they must make a payment through a cryptocurrency ATM to avoid prosecution for missing jury duty or some other pretense.
Florida is considering a bill similar to those passed in other states to help protect people from falling for scams involving cryptocurrency ATMs. If passed, the bill which has received bipartisan support would require the following notice on all cryptocurrency ATMs:
“WARNING: CONSUMER FRAUD OFTEN STARTS WITH CONTACT FROM A STRANGER. IF YOU HAVE BEEN DIRECTED TO THIS MACHINE BY SOMEONE CLAIMING TO BE A GOVERNMENT AGENT, BILL COLLECTOR, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, OR ANYONE YOU DO NOT KNOW PERSONALLY, STOP THIS TRANSACTION IMMEDIATELY AND CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR OR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.”
The proposed law would also cap how much customers can deposit. New customers would be limited to $2,000 dollars per day. Existing customers would be limited to $10,500 dollars in a single day.
TIPS
Protecting yourself from these imposter scams that form the basis of cryptocurrency ATM scams starts with recognizing that you can never be sure who is actually contacting you when you are contacted by phone, email or text message so you should never click on a link, download an attachment or provide personal information in response to any of those communications unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate. Further there is no circumstance where you will be asked by anyone legitimate to withdraw funds from your bank, deposit them into a cryptocurrency ATM and transfer the funds to them. Only scammers make those requests.
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Scam of the day – December 19, 2025 – Holiday Hotel Scams: Beware of Fake Room Service and Pizza Flyers
During the holiday season many people will be traveling and staying at hotels. Scammers know this and target hotel customers for scams. Some scams are just so simple and effective that they remind us why scam artists are indeed the only criminals we refer to as artists. An old scam that is still being used effectively by scammers involves a flyer under your door in your hotel or motel room that purportedly is an advertisement for a local pizza parlor or, in a case last year of one family that lost $6,000 taken from their debit card, a phony room service menu slid under the door. The flyer gives a telephone number for the pizza parlor which conveniently delivers to your room or, again in this particular case the phone number for the hotel’s room service.
All you need to do is call the number, give them a credit card and they will promptly send you your fresh pizza or other food. Unfortunately, it is a scam. There is no pizza parlor and this is not the real room service telephone number The scammers have merely gone through the hotel and put their flyers under the doors. They then just wait for the telephone calls, steal your credit card number and use it to make charges to your card.
TIPS
A good rule to follow is not to order any food from a restaurant that puts flyers under the door of your hotel or motel room and don’t trust a room service menu that has been slid under your door. In regard to the pizza parlor or other restaurant you can confirm online or even with a quick call to the clerk at the front desk as to whether the particular restaurant described in the flyer is legitimate and whether indeed the telephone number is their actual number. Sometimes the scammers will use the name of a real restaurant, but substitute their phony telephone number. Never order or provide your credit card unless you have independently confirmed both that the restaurant is real and the telephone number is accurate.
As for room service, you can easily access them through the appropriate button on the room landline or through the number indicated in the booklet found in the room containing information about the hotel.
Finally, as I have often warned you, the protection you get from fraud when using your debit card is far less than what you get when using your credit card so you should never use your debit card for anything other than an ATM card.
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Scam of the day – December 18, 2025 – Google Sues Chinese Cybercrime Gang Darcula Over Massive Phishing Scheme Using Magic Cat
Google filed a lawsuit in federal court this week against a Chinese criminal gang known as Darcula (which is not a Chinese word and may or may not be a criminal’s misspelling of Dracula). Darcula developed software that could be used to send phishing text messages in large numbers. The primary software program created by Darcula is called Magic Cat and it enables technologically unsophisticated criminals to send massive amounts of text messages in which the criminals pose as the IRS or other legitimate government agencies. Once of its most successful phishing campaigns using Magic Cat has been the phony text message in which you are told that you owe money for unpaid E-Z Pass tolls. Darcula leases the use of this software to other criminals on the Dark Web where it also provides technical support.
Darcula is based primarily in China which does not cooperate with American authorities in regard to cybercrime originating within its borders so one could question the advantage of bringing a lawsuit against Darcula or its leader Yucheng Chang who will not be extradited by Chinese authorities to the United States. However, bringing the lawsuit allows Google to apply for a restraining order which could enable them to shut down the websites used by Darcula to spread its malware.
In its lawsuit Google asserts that Darcula and criminals using its malware have stolen as many as 900,000 credit card numbers worldwide including 40,000 from Americans.
TIPS
This lawsuit highlights the imposter scams that come through text messages that appear to come from legitimate government agencies.
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 – December 17, 2025 – FTC Warns of Fake Talent Scout Text Scam Targeting Aspiring Actors
The Federal Trade Commission is warning people about a new scam that starts when you receive a text message from a scammer posing as a talent scout offering auditions for a well-known movie or television show. The text message asks if you are available for a virtual open call audition the next day. The audition ends up being a high pressure sales pitch to get you to sign up for phony photo shoots or fake acting classes. Making matters worse, the scammers then ask for you to pay for services such as test shoots, head shots or even to “secure your spot” for an acting job. Of course, all of it is a scam. There are no jobs. There are no photo shoots and there are no acting jobs. Anyone paying for these services ends up losing their money.
TIPS
Particularly if you have never been a paid actor or actress, anyone receiving this initial text message should immediately know it is a scam. If you have any thoughts that it might be legitimate, you can do a search engine search of the name used by the phony talent agent. Type in scam next to the name used by the caller and see what comes up. Also, real talent agencies don’t charge for their services. They find jobs for their clients and get paid when their clients get paid.
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Scam of the day – December 16, 2025 – FTC Warns of Bitcoin ATM Scam: Fake Agent John Krebs Impersonation Alert
Recently the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about an imposter scam that starts with a phone call that appears to come from John Krebs, the Chief Privacy Officer of the FTC. The scammer, posing as John Krebs identifies himself as “agent” John Krebs and tells you that you are being investigated for money laundering and that in order to resolve the matter you need to deposit money into a Bitcoin ATM. The call even appears on your Caller ID as coming from the FTC, but as I have told you many times, it is easy for a scammer to “spoof” the FTC’s phone number and manipulate your Caller ID to make it appear as if the call is coming from the FTC when it is actually coming from the scammer’s phone.
TIPS
In regard to FTC agents, there is no such position. The FTC does not have agents so anyone claiming to be one is a scammer.
The biggest red flag in this type of scam is to remember that no governmental agency will ever under any circumstances direct you to withdraw your funds and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM. Nor will any government agency ever ask for payment by gift cards or payment apps such as Zelle or Venmo, however, these are all favorite forms of payment of scammers.
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Scam of the day – December 15, 2025 – Gift Card Draining Scams: How Criminals Steal Your Balance and How to Stay Safe
It seems just about everywhere you look on television and online, reporters are now issuing dire warnings about gift card scams. This, however, is nothing new. Longtime readers of Scamicide may remember that I have been warning you about these scams since 2012. Gift card draining has become a major problem with organized crime groups including Chinese cybergangs operating wide scale gift card draining. The Department of Homeland Security is investigating these Chinese gangs through Operation Red Hook. Gift card draining occurs when scammers tamper with gift cards so that when an unwitting customer buys a gift card, the value of the gift card becomes under the control of the scammer.
The most common way gift card draining occurs involves scammers going to racks of gift cards in stores and using handheld scanners that are easy to obtain, read the code on the strip of the card and the number on the front. They then put the card back in the display and periodically check with the retailer by calling its 800 number to find out whether the card has been activated and what the balance is on the card. Once they have this information they either create a counterfeit card using the information they have stolen or order material online without having the actual card in hand.
Another common way gift card draining occurs is when scammers place a sticker with the barcode of a a gift card that the scammers possess over the actual barcode of the gift card in the rack. Thus when the card is taken by the gift card purchaser to the checkout counter to have the card activated, the funds used to purchase the gift card are credited to the card of the scammer. It is not until the gift card purchaser tries to use his or her card that it is discovered that there are no funds credited to the card.
Some retailers, in an effort to reduce gift card fraud put a PIN on the gift card so that if the card is used online, the user must have access to the PIN which is generally covered and must have the covering material scratched off in order to be visible. Unfortunately, many purchasers of gift cards are not aware of this so they don’t even notice that the PIN on the card that they are purchasing has already had the covering material scratched off by the scammer who has recorded the PIN. Target has redesigned its gift cards to have a blank space where access codes used to be printed. Instead the code is applied to the gift card by the cashier at checkout. Other gift card retailers are adding tamper-proof packaging or disc=plays that prevent cards from being put back once removed.
TIPS
When buying a gift card, only purchase cards from behind the customer service desk and if the card is preloaded, always ask for the card to be scanned to show that it is still fully valued. This avoids all of the problems of tampering with the card before it is sold.
Always inspect the card carefully to make sure that the barcode has not been tampered with in any fashion and that the PIN is still covered.
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Scam of the day – December 14, 2025 – DoorDash Data Breach: Class Action Lawsuit and Cybersecurity Lessons for Consumers
On November 20th I told you that Doordash had suffered a major data breach on October 25th, but took 19 days before it notified by email millions of its customers that personal information of theirs had been compromised. The information consisted of names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses and while this information is not as sensitive as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, it still puts victims of the data breach in danger of spear phishing emails that can lure them into becoming scam victims. The data breach was not the result of a computer hacking, but rather social engineering in which a psychologically skilled scammer convinced a DoorDash employee into giving him access to the company’s data.
Now Michelle Andrizzi has filed a class action in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California in response to the data breach alleging DoorDash was negligent in failing to use reasonable security procedures and practices to secure the sensitive, unencrypted information of its customers it maintained. This is the third major data breach suffered by DoorDash since 2019 and is a good indication that its cybersecurity is lacking.
TIPS
As for the victims of these data breaches, the first thing they should do is freeze their credit if they have not already done so. 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 each 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 – December 13, 2025 – Identity Theft of the Deceased: How Scammers Exploit Obituaries and Social Security Numbers
Not even the dead are immune from identity theft and this particular type of identity theft is now on the rise. Until regulations were enacted in 2014 scammers merely checked out the latest obituaries and then went to a free totally available data bank called the Death Master File maintained by the Social Security Administration. Using the Death Master File, the scammer was readily able to obtain the deceased person’s Social Security number which would then be used along with the information gained from the obituary to establish credit, make purchases or take out loans in the name of the deceased person. Since 2014 regulations have greatly limited the access to the Death Master File, but identity theft from the dead remains a serious problem because it is still easy for criminals to obtain Social Security numbers of dead people. Income tax identity theft using the Social Security numbers of dead people is a popular scam with income tax identity thieves because the IRS may not be alerted that the victim of the identity theft has died and is not filing an income tax return. Income tax identity theft from the dead can severely complicate the estate settlement process and threaten the deceased’s assets.
TIPS
Limit the amount of personal information contained in any obituary in order to not provide information exploitable by an identity thief. Also, the executor or personal representative of the estate should contact the major credit reporting bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax and notify them that the person is deceased and not to issue any further credit. All creditors, such as credit card companies of the deceased should also be notified of the death and the accounts closed as soon as possible.
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Scam of the day – December 12, 2025 – FBI Warns of Rising Virtual Kidnapping Scams Using AI Voice Cloning and Deepfakes
I have been warning you about phony kidnapping scams, also known as virtual kidnapping, for thirteen years and according to the FBI, the scam is increasing in frequency. Generally, the scam starts with a telephone call informing the person answering the phone that a child or other relative has been kidnapped and if the person receiving the call does not respond by wiring money right away, the relative will be killed. As with so many scams, we are often our own worst enemy and this scam is no exception. In many instances, the scammers gather personal information about the intended scam victims from information that the intended victims or members of their families post on social media. Armed with personal information gathered from social media, a scammer can describe the supposed kidnapped victim or provide personal information that would make it appear that indeed they actually do have the person in their custody.
This scam has evolved to be even more convincing through the use of AI voice cloning technology to clone the voice of the person the scammers say they have kidnapped. They get the audio through social media posts to make the call from the kidnapper appear to be more believable. With voice cloning becoming so easy to do, even technologically unsophisticated scammers are able to utilize it to make their scam seem legitimate. In addition, the FBI has just issued a warning about scammers sending deepfake videos or photos of the person they claim to have kidnapped to prove that they actually are holding the victim. Often the scammers will send the photos or videos using timed message features that limit the time that the family targeted in the scam can actually view the photos or videos because upon close inspection they can be determined to be fake.
TIPS
Always be skeptical if you receive such a call. Never wire money to anyone for anything unless you are totally convinced that what you are doing is legitimate because unlike paying for something with a credit card, once your wired funds have been sent, they are impossible to get back. Talk to the alleged kidnapper as long as possible, thereby giving someone else with you the time to call or text the alleged kidnap victim on his or her phone. If the purported kidnapping victim is a young child, call the school to confirm that he or she is safe. You also could ask the kidnapper to describe your relative as well as provide information, such as his or her birth date, which could be found on a driver’s license, however, it is important to remember that much of this kind of information may be available through social media or elsewhere on the Internet.
Parents should also check the privacy settings of the social media of their children and consider limiting the availability of their children’s posts.
Remember, even if the call appears to come from your family member’s phone, it is a simple matter for a scammer to “spoof” the number to manipulate your Caller ID to make it appear as if the call was coming from the phone of your family member.
Finally, even paranoids have enemies. A good protective measure for everyone to take to protect themselves from virtual kidnappings is to have a secret password to use in the event of an emergency that can be used to determine if a family member truly is in trouble.
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Scam of the day – December 11, 2025 – Synthetic Identity Theft: How It Works and How to Protect Yourself and Your Children
Although I have been writing about synthetic identity theft for many years, many people are not familiar with the term “synthetic Identity theft.” Synthetic identity theft poses a significant threat to many people particularly children. Synthetic identity theft occurs when a criminal takes information from a variety of sources to create a new identity to take out loans, purchase goods and services, or fraudulently obtain credit cards. Synthetic identity thieves combine real and fake information to form a new fictional person. They may use your Social Security number and combine it with the name, address and phone number of someone else. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has said that synthetic identity theft is the fastest growing type of identity theft. Children are the most common victims of synthetic identity theft and it is often many years before the problem is discovered.
The problem of synthetic identity theft has gotten worse in recent years with as much as 85% of identity theft last year being synthetic identity theft which has increased 233% over the last five years.
Commonly with synthetic identity theft, criminals who set up a synthetic identity build the credit score of the synthetic identity by having people using credit cards obtained in the name of the synthetic identity and make regular payments until the credit score of the new synthetic identity is high enough for the ultimate payoff, which is referred to as the “bust out.” In the bust out phase, the identity thief uses the new synthetic identity to either make large purchases or take out big loans that are never paid back. Some synthetic identity thieves will take years to build the synthetic identity theft credit score by making payments on cell phone accounts, car loans and more.
TIPS
Some telltale signs of synthetic identity theft include being contacted about an account that you never opened or a debt that you didn’t incur. Also, look for aliases listed on your credit report that you do not use. A dramatic lowering of your credit score coupled with a lack of negative information on your primary credit reports are further indications of synthetic identity theft. The reason that your primary credit report will not show negative information due to synthetic identity theft is because when a criminal uses your Social Security number, but doesn’t use your name, the negative information caused by their actions does not appear on your regular credit report. Instead, the information is added to a sub-file of your credit report which will, however, cause your credit score to drop tremendously.
If you do find out that you have become a victim of synthetic identity theft, notify each of the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion of the crime and ask them to investigate and remove the false information from your sub-files.
Children are prime targets and particularly vulnerable to synthetic identity theft. In 2024, 915,000 children in the USA were victims of identity theft, much of it synthetic identity theft. Parents also should, as much as possible, try to limit the places that have their child’s Social Security number and become familiar with the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act which helps you protect the privacy of your child’s school records and enables you to opt out of information sharing by the school with third parties.
You also should freeze the credit reports of your children. Until 2018 there was no national law that allowed the credit reports of children to be frozen, but in the wake of the major Equifax data breach, Congress passed laws that now permit children’s credit reports to be frozen and unfrozen for free.
Here are the links to information about how to freeze your child’s credit reports at each of the three major credit reporting agencies.
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/identity-theft/freezing-your-childs-credit-report-faq/
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