Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – January 30, 2026 – AI‑Driven Celebrity Impersonation Scams Surge: How Fake Reese Witherspoon Accounts Target Fans
For years I have told you about scammers posing as various popular celebrities in ads and on social media luring people into making payments for worthless products. Scammers also pose as celebrities on social media through which they contact fans of the impersonated celebrity and scam them through romance scams and a variety of other scams. Unfortunately, with the increased of Artificial Intelligence these phony ads and scams have become both more believable looking and more frequent as the deepfake and other AI technology becomes readily available to less technologically savvy scammers.
Recently Reese Witherspoon posted an Instagram story and TikTok video warning fans about scammers posing as her on both of those platforms, contacting unwary fans who think they are having a real relationship with her that just leads to their being scammed. Despite efforts of Instagram and TikTok to take down phony Reese Witherspoon accounts there are presently dozens of such accounts including @reesewitherspoon private. Making the problem worse, these phony accounts will actually post actual videos of Reese Witherspoon to make the accounts appear legitimate and make fans who are likely to engage when they are contacted through the account by the scammer posing as Witherspoon.
TIPS
As for any celebrity endorsement, you should not take it at face value. Confirm on the celebrity’s website to see if they really do endorse a particular product. As for celebrity based romance scam, it is important to recognize that celebrities aren’t reaching out online to people they have never met to start romantic relationships. Any DM you get from a celebrity asking for money, donations, help with a private matter, inviting you to join a secret fan club, or do anything with cryptocurrencies is a scam. Any message that indicates they need help with a legal issue, are stuck while traveling, want to reward you if you cover a small fee, or need gift cards is also a scam.
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Scam of the day – January 29, 2026 – How Bitcoin ATM Scams Exploded in Three Years—FTC Issues Major Warning
A report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicates a 1,000 % increase in money lost to scammers through Bitcoin ATMs in the last three years with consumers reporting losses of more than $65 million in just the first six months of 2024. Bitcoin and other 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 Bitcoin into crypto wallets. Due to the anonymity and immediacy of the Bitcoin transfers done through a Bitcoin ATM, it is a favorite method of payment for scammers.
Most of the scams using Bitcoin 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 all 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 Bitcoin ATM under the guise of protecting the funds. According to the FTC, people over 60 years old were more than three times more likely to report losing money to a Bitcoin ATM scam with an average loss of $10,000.
Recently in Westlake , Ohio a convenience store clerk noticed an elderly woman depositing thousands of dollars in cash into a cryptocurrency ATM and called the police to come in and stop her. Eventually, the responding officer was able to convince her that she was being scammed, but not before she had deposited and lost $5,500. Typical of such scams, she was responding to a scammer posing as her bank’s fraud department who told her to deposit the money into the cryptocurrency ATM to protect it.
TIPS
Protecting yourself from these imposter 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 Bitcoin ATM and transfer the funds to them. Only scammers make those requests.
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Scam of the day – January 28, 2026 – Smishing Scams on the Rise: How Fake Bank Text Messages Steal Your Money
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year more scams originated through text messages than phone calls and text message scams in which the scammers pose as your bank were the most common text message scam. Phony text messaging, called smishing, which purport to be from your bank is a scam about which I have been warning you for years, but is a scam that has dramatically increased recently. Recently scammers have been posing as TD Bank and sending text messages indicating that a major charge has been made to your account and providing you with a link to click on to dispute the charge. If you click on the link you will be taken to a website that appears to be a legitimate website of TD Bank which prompts you to provide your user name and password. Unfortunately, if you do so you will be providing the scammer with full access to your bank account. Here is a copy of the text message being sent.
![DailyMail.com obtained one of the messages that reads: 'TD Alert. There's a pending charge of $1,298.99 on your account, ignore if you initiated, if not follow [link]'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/03/07/19/95962651-14474399-image-a-38_1741376145511.jpg)
Phony text messages like this can be particularly problematic if you have signed up to receive text message alerts from your bank. Whenever you receive a text message you can never be sure who is really sending it to you, so you should never call a telephone number indicated in the text message, provide information or click on links in such text messages which may either download ransomware malware on to your phone or keystroke logging malware that can lead to your becoming a victim of 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 bank to determine whether or not the text message was a scam, but be careful that you do not misdial the telephone number of your bank as some scammers purchase phone numbers similar to those of legitimate banks and 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.
Banks do not call, text or email their customers asking for personal information. You should always be skeptical of anyone asking for such information. Of course, if you receive a text message that appears to come from a bank at which you do not have an account, you can be confident it is a scam. If the text message provides for you to respond to stop future texts, don’t do it. Sending such a message to a scammer merely alerts them to the fact that yours is an active phone number.
Another step you should take to prevent your account from being taken over even if someone manages to get your user name and password is to set up dual factor authentication on your bank account.
Finally, although today’s Scam of the day focuses on phony bank text messages, it is a good idea to sign up to receive text alerts from your bank which can be customized for your own particular needs.
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Scam of the day – January 27, 2026 – Beware the Fake Apple Special Investigations Unit Scam: How to Protect Yourself
People are reporting receiving calls that purport to be from Apple’s Special Investigations Unit telling them that illegal child pornography has been discovered on their cloud account. The phony investigator is sympathetic when you inform them that you never stored child pornography on the cloud or anywhere else. He tells you that most likely the child pornography was somehow planted by a hacker on your computer and it is being backed up in the cloud. In order to remedy the problem, the phony Apple investigator tells you he needs remote access to your computer in order to locate and remove the child pornography from your computer. The cost of this service can be as high as thousands of dollars which the phony investigator requests be paid through Amazon gift cards. This scam presents a double whammy. Victims of the scam not only pay the scammer for services they don’t need, but by providing remote access to their computers, they enable the scammer to install a wide variety of malware that can lead to identity theft and further scams.
TIPS
Even if your Caller ID indicates that the call is coming from Apple, your Caller ID can be manipulated easily through a technique called “spoofing” by which the scammer can make your Caller ID read whatever he or she wants it to read. One way you can be sure if you receive such a call that it is a scam is that neither Apple nor any other tech company is going to call to inform you that there is child pornography on your computer. Also, Apple does not have a Special Investigations Unit. Additionally, legitimate tech companies do not accept Amazon gift cards or any other form of gift card as payment for their services. As for enabling someone to have remote access to your computer, you should never do so unless you have absolutely confirmed that the remote access is legitimately warranted and the person to whom you are giving the remote access is also legitimate.
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Scam of the day – January 26, 2026 – How to Stop Robocalls: Effective Apps and Tips to Block Scammers
Over the years I have written numerous times about the problems presented by robocalls and with good reason. Automated robocalls which, for commercial purposes, are illegal, are the number one consumer complaint reported by the public to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at a cost to consumers of billions of dollars each year. Robocalls are used by scammers to perpetrate a wide variety of scams. The ease by which illegal robocalls may be made by computers using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) accounts for much of the problem. Most of the robocalls received in the United States originate overseas. Last year the number of robocalls exceeded 52 billion calls according to the Robocall Index from YouMail, a robocall protection app that tracks call data.
TIPS
There also are a number of options we all have for preventing robocalls including a number of apps that for free or a small fee will reduce and, in some instances prevent, robocalls.
Samsung’s SmartCall informs you if the call you are receiving is from a known robocaller. This feature is available with newer Samsung Galaxy phones. Here is a link to information about SmartCall and instructions as to how to activate this app. https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/apps/smart-call/#:~:text=The%20Smart%20Call%20function%20lets,Suspected%20to%20be%20spam
Google also has a spam blocker that will warn you when you are receiving a robocall and your screen will turn red. Here is a link to information about the app and how to install it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer&hl=en
AT&T also offers free apps to block robocalls on iPhones and Android phones. Here is a link to information about these apps.
https://www.att.com/features/security-apps.html?partner=LinkShare&siteId=TnL5HPStwNw-yrUS1uDw9WGvN._xt67yew&source=ECay0000000CEL00O
Verizon’s CallerName ID is a free service for iPhones and Android phones that will alert you to suspected robocallers. Here is a link to Verizon’s app.
https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/caller-name-id/
T-Mobile offers a free scam blocker of known robocallers for Android phones which you can activate by merely dialing #662#
Sprint offers a paid service to protect your iPhone or Android phone from robocalls. For more information, use this link
https://www.sprint.com/en/landings/scamprotection.html
Finally, you can just choose to ignore any calls that come from numbers you do not recognize. This is a good option. If they are legitimate calls, they will leave a message and you can call them back.
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Scam of the day – January 25, 2026 – Jury Duty Scam Alert: How Gift Card and Bitcoin Scammers Target Victims
I have been warning you about the jury duty scam for thirteen years, but it continues to snare many unwary victims. Recently Joey Amour Jackson and Lance Riddle were convicted of charges related to operating a nationwide jury duty scam in which they phoned their scam victims and told them that arrest warrants had been issued for them due for missing jury duty. The victims were told they were under gag orders and could not speak about their arrest warrants until they had paid for a bond or they would be arrested. The victims were told to pay for the bonds by purchasing gift cards and give the card numbers to the scammers over the phone. What is particularly noteworthy about these particular scammers perpetrated their scams while already being prisoners of the Calhoun State Prison in Georgia for other offenses. They used smuggled cell phones to make their calls.
Often in these scams you are told that you can pay the fine through a credit card or, as was done in this instance by gift cards. And now more frequently you are told to pay the “fine” through a Bitcoin ATM. Other times they ask for your Social Security number to confirm your identity. Of course, the phone call is a scam. Even if you have missed jury duty, you will never be called by legitimate court officers and shaken down for a payment.
Often, as in this case, the scammers will use a technique called “spoofing” to make the call appear on your Caller ID as if it is coming from a legitimate law enforcement agency or court. In some instances of the scam you are asked to confirm your identity by providing your Social Security number which will then be used to make you a victim of identity theft. Recently the scam has evolved to where people are also being contacted by text messages or emails from scammers posing as a representative of the local court system.
TIPS
Initial contacts from courts regarding jury duty are always in writing through the mail although some systems will permit you to receive future notices through email. Under no circumstances will you receive telephone calls or text messages indicating that you have failed to report for jury duty. No court will demand payment over the phone for failing to appear for jury duty and no court ever requires a payment be made via cryptocurrencies. If you do receive such a call and you think that there is even the possibility that you might have forgotten to report for jury duty, merely call the local clerk of courts in order to get accurate information. Of course anyone calling you and telling you that you can pay your fine to them over the phone using your credit card or a gift card is a scammer.
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Scam of the day – January 24, 2026 – No, Medicare Isn’t Calling You: How Identity Thieves Target Older Americans
For many years Medicare used a person’s Social Security number as his or her Medicare number which put Medicare recipients in serious danger of identity theft. Medicare resisted changing the Medicare number to a safer random number for many years. Finally, in April 2018, new random numbered cards began being sent by regular mail to all 60 million Americans enrolled in Medicare and in 2020 the switch over to new more secure Medicare card numbers was complete.
But this has not stopped identity thieves. Many older Americans are receiving emails or phone calls purporting to be from Medicare either offering various health services or new Medicare cards with microchips. All the targeted victim has to do is merely verify their Medicare number. And while your Medicare number is no longer your Social Security number, giving it to an identity thief can cause you substantial problems when you try to access Medicare as well as cost the American taxpayers millions of dollars.
TIPS
It is easy to determine when you receive a phone call, email or text message from Medicare if it is legitimate. They don’t contact you by email, text message or by phone so anytime you are contacted in this manner, you can be confident it is a scam. As for phone calls purporting to be from Medicare, you should never provide your Medicare number, Social Security number, credit card number or any other personal information to anyone who calls you on the phone because you can never be sure they are legitimate. Even if your Caller ID indicates the call is from Medicare, the IRS or some other legitimate organization, through a technique called “spoofing” your Caller ID can be tricked into making it appear that the call is legitimate.
The real Medicare also will not contact you and ask you to verify your Medicare number and there are no new Medicare cards with microchips. If you get a call asking for personal information that appears legitimate, merely hang up and call the company or agency at a number that you independently know is legitimate to find out the truth.
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Scam of the day – January 23, 2026 – Scammers Posing as Pastors Are Targeting Parishioners With Gift Card Scams
I first warned you about this particular scam in 2017, but it has recently resurfaced in many places around the country including Carmel, New York where the Carmel Sheriff is warning people about scammers posing as the pastor of a Carmel church contacting parishioners and attempting to lure them into sending gift cards. Last year, 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 – January 22, 2026 – From Betterment Phishing to Fake Crypto Recovery Firms: How Scam Victims Are Targeted Twice
In recent years, I have written many times about the myriad of cryptocurrency scams that have cost people billions of dollars. A recent cryptocurrency scam involved the Betterment investing service when a notification was sent to its customers that appeared to come from Betterment offering to triple the amount of any funds sent to crypto wallets of scammers posing as Betterment. Of course, this was a scam, but customers responding to the email lost their entire payments. What made this particular scam appear to be more believable was that the email appeared to come from Betterment because it was sent through a third party communication platform used by Betterment.
According to the FBI, Americans lost more than 9.3 billion dollars to cryptocurrency investment scams in 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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Scam of the day – January 21, 2026 – Beware of Credit Repair Scams: FTC Warns Against Illegal Upfront Fees and Fake Identity Theft Reports
Credit repair scams are very common as scammers take advantage of people with debt problems and promise to fix their credit and clear their credit reports of adverse information for up front fees. I have been warning you about these scams for thirteen years. Recently the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about phony credit repair companies telling people to fix their credit by filing a false identity theft report all the while requiring an upfront payment for their services. Both of those are illegal. Credit repair companies must provide a detailed contract explaining your legal rights such as the right to cancel the contract without any charges within three days of signing the contract. The law also prohibits upfront payments before they perform any services.
Your credit report is one of the most important documents in your financial life. The information in your credit report as maintained by the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian is used to calculate your credit score. This is used by financial institutions to evaluate your creditworthiness and can affect your ability to get a credit card, mortgage loan or a car loan. It also can affect the rate that you will be charged on such loans. In addition, your credit score is used in many states by companies in making hiring decisions and landlords consider credit scores when determining whether or not to rent an apartment or home to someone.
TIPS
Don’t fall prey to scammers operating phony credit repair companies and never pay an upfront fee to one of these companies. Advance fees for credit repair companies that operate for profit are banned by the Credit Repair Organizations Act.
Negative information on your credit report remains on your credit report for seven years and bankruptcies for ten years. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to scam you. Many of the scam credit repair companies use illegal tactics such as applying for a federal employer ID to use as your Social Security number when applying for credit. This is illegal.
If you need real credit counseling you can go to this section of the Department of Justice’s website where it lists agencies approved to assist consumers with debt problems. https://www.justice.gov/ust/list-credit-counseling-agencies-approved-pursuant-11-usc-111 You also may consider contacting companies that are affiliated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at this link https://www.nfcc.org/
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