Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – June 4, 2025 – Pennsylvania Woman Victim of Car Dealer Clone Scam
Car dealer cloning occurs when a scammer sets up a website or social media profile as a legitimate car dealer. The website and social media posts use images and photographs of legitimate car dealers to make them look legitimate and, with the increased availability of AI to assist the scammers in setting up their phony car dealer websites and social media presence, they appear quite legitimate. On these phony sites the scammers offer tremendous discounts on cars. Generally, the scammers require the purchase price for the non-existent cars to be wired to them. Wiring funds is a favorite choice of payment of scammers because it can be difficult to reverse and is easy for the scammers to disguise their identity.
Recently Adrianna Parsons found a Lexus SUV listed for sale on CARFAX by what appeared to be a legitimate car dealership called Specialty Auto in Nebraska. After going to what she thought was the dealership’s website and talking with the owner, Jim Woods she wired $45,000 to who she thought was Jim Woods, but the car was never delivered. The truth is that the real Jim Woods is indeed the owner of Specialty Auto, but his dealership does not have a website and he does not sell cars online. Unfortunately, the scammers have used Woods’ name and a phony Specialty Auto website to scam others as well.
TIPS
Research any car dealer you are considering to confirm their actual phone number, email address and other contact information to make sure you are communicating with the real dealer and not a scammer posing as the legitimate dealer. Confirm with your state Department of Transportation that the dealer with whom you are dealing is a properly registered. Never buy a car without actually seeing and inspecting it. Before wiring money. confirm with the seller’s bank the identity of the company you are sending the funds to. You can tell the bank that you want to verify the company’s identity before wiring funds.
Scam of the day – June 3, 2025 – Scammers Posing As Airline Customer Service Representatives
Looking ahead to a busy summer air travel season in which we can expect delays and cancellations due to a variety of reasons, scammers will be taking advantage of the situation. Delays and cancellations occur for a number of reasons including bad weather and air traffic control issues. Weary travelers are always looking for help and assistance from their airline. Often the inconvenienced travelers will turn to social media for help and scammers who monitor social media for posts from disgruntled travelers respond posing as airline customer service representatives. The scammers lure their targeted victims into clicking on links to go to phony airline websites where they are manipulated into providing personal information that can be used to make them victims of identity theft. Scammers are using AI to make these phony websites appear very legitimate and convincing.
TIPS
Never click on a link in any email, text message or social media post that purports to take you to a company with which you do business. The risk of it being a scam or downloading dangerous malware is too great. Instead, go directly to the website of the company through a URL that you know is legitimate. In the case of an airline, contact customer service through the airline’s official website or app or phone number you have confirmed is legitimate.
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Scam of the day – June 2, 2025 – Sextortion Email Scam
I have been warning you about sextortion scams for nine years. Generally sextortion scams begin with an email in which you are told that your computer and web cam have been hacked and that the scammers have video of you watching porn online. In the email, the scammer threatens to send the videos to people on his contact list unless you pay a ransom in Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency.
In a more recent version of this scam, people around the country are receiving such sextortion emails with some new twists. First, the email contains a photograph of your home with a threat to contact you at your home, referring to your home’s address if you don’t pay the demanded Bitcoin ransom. Second, the email refers to a type of Spyware called Pegasus that can steal information from you computer without being discovered. In fact, Pegasus spyware does exist, but it is used only by government agencies.
In a recent development, four men in Ivorty Coast were arrested for their role in an international sextortion scheme that resulted in the suicide of Ryan Last a 17 year old from San Jose California.
TIPS
Scammers use services such as Google Maps to obtain the photos used in the emails and use AI to gather other personal information used in the email to make it appear more believable, but the truth is that they do not have the videos that they claim to have because if they did, they would show it to you in the email.
In regard to your web cam being hacked, while often this is merely a threat and the scammer has not hacked your web cam, however web cams can be hacked. One thing you can do to protect your webcam from being hacked is to make sure that you change the default password on your webcam when you first install it. Another simple thing I do and you can, as well, is to merely put a post it note over your webcam when it is not in use. This is a technique used by the late Pope Francis and former FBI director James Comey.
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Scam of the day – June 1, 2025 – FBI Chasing Funds of Pig Butchering Scammers
Feng Chen and his wife Tianqiong Xu were living in Frisco Texas and operating a pig butchering cryptocurrency scam from 2021 through 2024 according to the FBI. The FBI had been investigating the couple since 2021, but by the time they got an indictment for wire fraud and money laundering in June of 2024, they had both fled to China where they are both citizens. Now, the FBI is attempting to seize mroe than 6 million dollars worth of cryptocurrency held in four electronic wallets. This pig butchering scam originated in China in 2019 and is called sha zhu pan which translares to pig butchering in English. The name is derived from the practice of luring in victims, “fattening them up” by convincing them to continually “invest” more money and then stealing all of the money.
In this case, according to the FBI Chen and Xu preyed upon people of Chinese heritage in the United States who they met through Chinese language investing chat rooms. After building trust, they would encourage their victims to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrencies. They would tell their targeted victims that they were making a lot of money investing in cryptocurrencies and urge their victims to download and use a cryptocurrency app used by them. Generally, the victims are lured into investing more and more money by what appears to be both dramatic increases in the value of their account and their ability to withdraw some of their profits. However, the documentation of their account and its increase in value is all fake. Ultimately, the victims are left with nothing. According to the FBI, Chen and Xu stole approximately 9.5 million dollars from 120 victims.
This scam is also a good example of what is called affinity fraud where people put undeserved trust in someone offering an investment opportunity because that person is “someone like me.” Affinity fraud works because people trust other people who may share a common bond, such as family, religion or, in this case, ethnicity. The list goes on and on. Scammers take advantage of every connection they can make with their victims to gain their trust and then steal their money. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone. Never put your trust in someone in regard to an investment merely because you share some common identity.
TIPS
It is important to remember that you should never invest in something that you do not completely understand. This was a mistake that many of Bernie Madoff’s victims made. Cryptocurrency scams quite often involve complicated language and investment terms that is purposefully unclear in an effort to confuse potential investors from understanding the real facts. You also may want to check out the SEC’s investor education website at www.investor.gov. Scammers can be very convincing and it may sound like there is a great opportunity for someone to make some money, but you must be careful that the person making money is not the scam artist taking yours.
Also, the apps used in the pig butchering scam may appear to be legitimate, but they are not found on official app platforms such as Google Play or the Apple App Store. Do your homework before investing in cryptocurrencies and only do business with well established cryptocurrency exchanges. Never invest merely because of the recommendation of someone you may have met online.
As for trading sites, you should always investigate any site you are considering before investing. See if the platform is registered with the SEC and licensed. You can also look for reviews of the site on cryptocurrency watchdog sites such as CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko. Also, check with the domain registry site https://www.whois.com/ to see who set up the particular site and how long it has been in existence.
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Scam of the day – May 31, 2025 – Another Supply Chain Data Breach
It seems like every week I am reporting to you about another major data breach. This week the victim is LexisNexis Risk Solutions which is a data broker that gathers consumers’ personal data and provides it to its corporate clients for purposes of risk management. This particular data breach resulted in the names, dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and Social Security numbers of 364,000 people being stolen by hackers. This information can be used by criminals for identity theft. This particular data breach wasn’t of the computers of LexisNexis, but rather of a third party company it used for software development. This is part of a trend where hackers target companies with less security who have access to the data of the company that is the real target of the criminals. Often it takes the form of infecting malware into software developed by companies that is later used by other companies or government agencies that allows the criminals access to their targeted victims’ data.
TIPS
One important lesson is to limit the amount of personal information that you provide to companies and websites whenever possible. For example, your doctor doesn’t need your Social Security number for his or her records.
You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger. If your information is compromised in a data breach, you should immediately change the password for that account.
If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of you accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
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Scam of the day – May 30, 2025 – Joann Fabrics Bankruptcy Sale Scams
In the Scam of the day for March 5, 2025 I informed you that crafts supply store Joann Fabrics has filed for bankruptcy and would be closing all of its stores. Scammers were quick to take advantage of this by setting up phony Joann Fabrics websites offering tremendous discounts, but once you provide your credit card or debit card to make a purchase, you end up turning over your credit card or debit card to a scammer. The phony Joann Fabric websites are being touted on social media and the phony websites look quite legitimate, most likely due to the scammers using artificial intelligence to construct the websites. The only real Joann Fabric website is joann.com. The last 440 Joann Fabrics stores closed this week and online sales actaully ended on March 5th so any websites you may see offering discounted sales of Joann Fabrics merchandise are phony.
TIPS
Scam of the day – May 29, 2025 – Customer Service Number Scam
USA Today recently did a story about scammers using phony customer service numbers to scam people. Regular readers of Scamicide might remember I have been warning you about this scam since 2017. Scammers are increasingly setting up phony websites that appear to provide a telephone number for customer service or tech support of many of the companies with which we do business. Often the scammers either purchase an ad to appear at the top of a search engine search or they manipulate the algorithms used by Google and other search engines to make their phony customer service number appear high on a search. Through the use of AI, these phony websites look very believeable.
A variation on this scam occurs also where scammers 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. A Scamicide reader had an issue with his Sprint account and called his customer support phone number where he was told that he was eligible for a special promotion and a gift card if he just provided some personal information. It was at this point that the savvy Scamicide reader realized he had mistakenly called the wrong number which was merely a digit off from the correct Sprint customer support number. He hung up and avoided being scammed. Others have not been so lucky and have provided personal information that leads to identity theft after misdialing a customer support number.
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.
Also, remember you can’t trust Alexa or Siri to provide you with the correct number because they only access the information appearing at the top of a search engine search. As I indicated earlier, often those numbers are fake numbers put their by scammers.
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Scam of the day – May 28, 2025 – FTC Shuts Down Student Loan Scammers
More than forty-two million Americans have student loans with an outstanding balance of more than 1.4 trillion dollars so it is no surprise that scammers are focusing their attention on these students and former students through scams that falsely promise to provide debt relief. I have written numerous times in the past about various student loan debt relief scams. In the Scam of the day for August 14, 2024 I first told you that the Federal Trade Commission had sued Panda Benefit Services which did business as Prosperity Benefit Services and seven other names for falsely claiming that people who paid upfront fees for their program were guaranteed to receive loan forgiveness. They also falsely claimed that they were affiliated with the Department of Education.
Now a final judgement has been issued in the case permanently banning Panda Benefit Services and its affiliates and operators from the debt relief industry and ordering them to turn over assets to the FTC to be used to compensate the victims of the scam. As more details emerge regarding the payment of those funds to victims of the scam, I will report them to you.
TIPS
The old adage still is true. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Many of these student loan debt relief scammers promise quick loan forgiveness, which is unrealistic. In addition, you should never pay any upfront fees for student loan debt relief assistance. Those fees are illegal and are a sure indication that you are being scammed. Also, remember my motto, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” Don’t trust scammers merely because they claim that they are affiliated with the government. You also should never share your FSA ID with anyone.
I will keep you informed as to the progress of this lawsuit and if funds are obtained from the defendants to be returned to the scam victims, I will provide you with the information you need to make a claim.
Finally, if you are interested in knowing about legitimate options for reducing student loans, go to the Department of Education’s website which describes the various loan forgiveness plans offered by the federal government. Here is a link to that information. https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation
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Scam of the day – May 27, 2025 – Facebook Marketplace Scam
Facebook Marketplace is a popular and convenient place for people to buy and sell things so, of course, scammers are drawn to it. Scams on Facebook Marketplace have increased dramatically in the last couple of years. A recent scam turning up on Facebook Marketplace starts when you list an item for more than a few hundred dollars. Shortly thereafter you are contacted by a scammer posing as a legitimate buyer who wants you to use Zelle, Venmo or some other P2P Service to pay you for the item. Peer to Peer Payment Payment Services (P2P) such a Zelle are used by many people to quickly and conveniently send money electronically from your credit card or bank account. Sending money through Zelle only requires you to enter the recipient’s phone number or email address.
Then the fun begins (for the scammer). You next receive an email that purports to have been sent by Zelle indicating that the buyer paid you through a Zelle “business account” and that you need to upgrade your personal Zelle account to a business account in order to receive the payment from the scammer posing as the buyer. You are then told that in order to upgrade your account, the amount sent to you needs to be increased by $300. The scammer then tells you that he or she will gladly send you an additional $300 through Zelle in order to enable the transaction if you merely refund the excess payment to them through Zelle. Of course, soon after refunding the $300, which was never paid by the scammer to begin with, the scam victim realizes he or she has just been scammed out of $300.
TIPS
Unfortunately, Zelle has proven to be easily exploited by scammers and unlike scams targeting your credit cards directly, you may not have as much protection under the law to get your money back if you do get scammed. Although the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued guidelines last year indicating that all online money transfers such as this that were done as a scam should be reimbursed by the bank, many banks are refusing to refund money lost by the scam victims.
Making matters worse, while you can tie a credit card to your Venmo account (although they will charge you 3% each time you use it), Zelle requires you to either tie your bank account directly to the Zelle account or your debit card to the account. Either way, if a scammer gets access to your Zelle account, you have turned over your bank account to the scammer.
Also, while Zelle has business accounts, you don’t need to upgrade your account in order to receive a payment from a Zelle business account. Frankly, I don’t think anyone should use Zelle, Venmo or any of the other P2P services for anything other than sending small amounts to friends and family. The potential for scams is too great and your ability to get reimbursed is low.
Finally, anytime someone sends you an overpayment for whatever reason and asks for you to send funds back, you should be skeptical as this is always a scam.
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Scam of the day – May 26, 2025 – New Online Shopping Credit Card Scam
Creative scammers have come up with a new way to scam you when you shop online. For years, I have warned you about phony retail websites that either appear to be that of legitimate retailers such as Wallmart or are just websites that come up high in a search engine search when you are looking to buy a particular item that offer great prices. Unfortunately, this problem has gotten worse with scammers now able to use AI to create phony retail websites that look entirely legitimate. Also, merely because a website comes up high in a search engine search does not mean that it is legitimate. Scammers either pay for a high position or are sufficiently savvy to create a site that the search engines’ algorithms will pick for a high position in a search.
In the past, the scammers would lure you into providing your credit card or debit card (which you should never use for purchases because the law does not protect you as much from fraudulent use) and then use your card to make purchases or if you provided your debit card, they will then access your bank account. Now, however, the scammer are getting greedy. When you attempt to use your credit card on their phony website you will be told that your card has been declined and so you need to use a second card. Once you do, you have now turned over two credit cards to the scammer to use for fraudulent purchases in your name.
So how do you determine if you are on a legitimate website?
TIPS