Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – April 21, 2026 – Evite Online Invitation Scam
Evite is a popular online invitation platform that allows users to create, send, and manage digital invitations for events such as parties, weddings, meetings, and other gatherings. It’s widely used because it simplifies the process of inviting guests and tracking RSVPs. Evite is trusted and familiar to many users, making it an effective disguise for phishing scams. Because people often receive Evite invitations from friends or colleagues, they may click links without suspicion—especially if the invitation appears to be for a social or professional event. If you click on links in a scam evite invitation you may end up downloading dangerous keystroke logging malware that can steal sensitive personal data such as passwords or account information from your phone or computer that will result in your becoming a victim of identity theft.
TIPS
While your security software may protect you from some malware, no security software can protect you from the latest versions of malware that exploits zero day defects which means that the malware is exploiting previously undiscovered vulnerabilities. The best option whenever you receive an evite or similar online invitation platform email is to contact directly the person or company that appears to be sponsoring the event before ever clicking on the invitation in order to determine whether it is legitimate or not. It may seem paranoid, but even paranoids have enemies.
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Scam of the day – April 20, 2026 – Credit Card Declined 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
Scam of the day – April 19, 2026 – Beware of Evil Twins
Whether we are at the airport, a hotel, a shopping mall, a coffee shop or almost anywhere else, you will usually find free public Wi-Fi service offered so that we can use our cell phones, laptops or tablets to connect to the Internet. However with this convenience can come danger. Too many people assume that the Wi-Fi that they are using is secure and this is not always the case. In fact, often an identity thief will go to the same coffee shop or other venue and set up his or her own Wi-Fi which is what you may unwittingly be tapping into when you think you are connecting to the Wi-Fi of the particular coffee shop or other place you find yourself at. Technologically, it is easy to set up a phony Wi-Fi that can steal data from your cell phone, laptop or tablet and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a warning about these scammer-created phony Wi-Fi networks which she calls “Evil twins.”
So what can you do to make using public Wi-Fi safe?
TIPS
It is always a good idea to make sure that your cell phone, tablet or laptop has a good firewall and is protected by anti-virus and anti-malware security software that is updated with the latest security updates. It is also a good idea not to use public Wi-Fi for banking or other financial transactions or, for that matter, anything that requires you to provide login credentials. Sensitive data should not be sent over public Wi-Fi. If you are going to use public Wi-Fi, the first thing you should do is check the hotspot name. Identity thieves often set up their phony Wi-Fi with names that appear quite similar to the legitimate Wi-Fi. For example, the public Wi-Fi offered at your coffee shop may be named GoodCoffee while the phony one may be something that with a cursory look appears legitimate, such as Go0dCoffee.
Always make sure when using public Wi-Fi that you are on the legitimate Wi-Fi site before proceeding to use it. Many cell phones and other devices automatically connect to nearby networks, which can connect you to the identity thief’s phony Wi-Fi before you realize it. Therefore disable automatic connection to networks. Finally, the best thing you can do to protect your privacy and security when using public Wi-fi is to use a Virtual Private Network app which will encrypt all of your data before sending it through the Wi-Fi connection. Here is a link to an article I wrote about VPNs that will tell you all you need to know (and possibly more) about VPNs. https://au.norton.com/internetsecurity-wifi-how-does-a-vpn-work.html and here is a link to an article that lists ten good VPNs that you can get for free. https://www.techradar.com/vpn/best-free-vpn
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Scam of the day – April 18, 2026 – NY Attorney General Lawsuit Against Zelle Update
In the Scam of the day for August 16, 2025 I told you about the lawsuit NY Attorney General Letitia James brought against Zelle, the service created by major banks in 2017 that enables people to quickly and easily send money from their bank accounts to other Zelle platform users. Unfortunately, as I have often reported to you, Zelle has been a favorite method for scammers to lure their victims into paying them through a variety of scams. According to Attorney General James, Zelle lacks important verification steps that would help prevent fraud such that scammers can sign up for Zelle using misleading email addresses that make them appear to be legitimate businesses or government agencies. In the lawsuit, James points out the example of someone posing as a Con Edison employee threatening to turn off electricity unless money was sent by Zelle to the scammer who was able to use the name “Coned Billing” for the account.
If this sounds familiar to you, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had filed a similar lawsuit against Zelle in December of 2024, but the Trump administration dismissed the lawsuit earlier this year.
The case is presently still in the pre-trial litigation phase where both sides are filing motions and gathering evidence. No trial date has been scheduled.
TIPS
Meanwhile if you are a Zelle user what can you do to protect yourself?
Before signing up for any Zelle you should familiarize yourself with their fraud protection rules. In the fine print you may find that you have little, if any, protection if you use the account to purchase something that ends up being a scam. Consumers should recognize that Zelle should not be used for commercial transactions, but only to transfer small amounts of money to people you know.
In order to protect your account from being hacked and being taken over by a scammer who could access your credit card or bank account, you should use a PIN or other dual factor authentication for your Zelle account.
To avoid having your Zelle account and other accounts from being taken over by scammers, never provide your username, password or PIN in response to any email, text message or phone call unless you have absolutely confirmed that the request for this information is legitimate, which it never is. You can confirm this by contacting your bank by calling them at a telephone number you know is accurate. Even if you get a call that appears to come from your bank or other company with which you do business, your Caller ID can be tricked by a technique called spoofing to make the call appear legitimate when it is not.
Finally, remember no governmental agency asks for or accepts payment by Zelle.
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Scam of the day – April 17, 2026 – Free Piano Scam
Cybersecurity company Proofpoint discovered a scam in which people receive emails offering a free piano which is available often purportedly due to a death in the family or because the owner of the piano is graduating. The scam has largely targeted students and professors at colleges and universities. Often in the email, the scammer poses a someone from the same college or university as that of the targeted victim. In order to receive the free piano, all the targeted victim has to do is contact the moving company that presently has the piano to arrange for delivery. Delivery options in some of the emails have ranged from two day delivery for $915 to ten day delivery for $595. However, in order to have the delivery made, the targeted scam victim is required to pay the moving company in full for the cost of delivery.
A big indication that this is a scam is that the moving company asks for payment by Zelle or cryptocurrencies. No legitimate business demands payment by Zelle or cryptocurrencies, but scammers often do because of the anonymity for these types of payments and the difficulty in tracing or reversing payments made in this manner.
Of course, anyone paying the moving company for the piano never receives a piano and loses whatever money the targeted victim pays. Proofpoint has found that many of these scam phishing emails originate in Nigeria.
TIPS
B.S. Be Skeptical. People may trust emails such as this due to affinity fraud where we tend to trust people with whom we share some kind of connection and getting an email such as this that appears to come from someone at your college or university may cause the person receiving the email to trust it to be legitimate. Particularly if the offer appears to be about getting something for nothing, you should investigate the name of the person offering the free piano as well as confirm that the moving company is legitimate as well. The scammers use the names of legitimate moving companies, but when you contact them or go to their website, you are taken to a phony website or phone number.
Requiring payment by Zelle or cryptocurrencies is another indication that this is a scam.
Finally, it should be noted that while this scam is largely originating in Nigeria, the use of AI makes the emails very believable even where the person creating the email may not have American English as his primary language.
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Scam of the day – April 16, 2026 – iCloud Storage Phishing Scam
The most effective scams take advantage of legitimate situations. Many people have gotten legitimate messages from Apple telling them that their iCloud storage under their present plan is full. If your iCloud storage is full you can still save your photos and videos to your iPhone or iPad and documents you create will stay on your device, but these photos, videos and documents won’t upload to your iCloud account. Scammers are taking advantage of confusion as to what it means to have your iCloud account full by sending text messages like the one shown below that your iCloud account has been blocked and that your photos, videos and documents may be deleted unless you upgrade your account immediately. Clicking on the link in the text message to upgrade storage brings you to an AI created and legitimate appearing Apple website where you are prompted to provide credit card information which, if provided will lead to identity theft and credit card fraud.
TIPS
The safest way to update your account is to do so in the following manner
On iPhone or iPad
- Open Settings
- Tap your name at the top
- Tap iCloud
- Tap Manage Storage or Manage Account Storage
- Tap Change Storage Plan
- Choose a plan and confirm with Face ID / Touch ID / passcode
On your computer you can update your account by going directly to the Apple website at https://appleid.apple.com
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Scam of the day – April 15, 2026 – Booking.com Data Breach
Scams involving the popular travel website Booking.com have increased dramatically over the last two years worldwide. The latest problem is a data breach which Booking.com confirmed earlier this week in an email to its users informing them that it had suffered a data breach in which booking details, names, emails, addresses, phone numbers and any other information Booking.com users may have shared with any hotel booked through Booking.com was compromised. Scammers are using this information to contact Booking.com customers posing as Booking.com or a hotel with which the customers has made a reservation through Booking.com and under a variety of pretenses asks for credit card information related to an upcoming hotel stay. The phone calls, text messages or phishing emails will look entirely legitimate and refer to specifics as to actual reservations, making the scam more believable.
TIPS
As always, you can never be sure when you get an email, text message or phone call as to who is really contacting you so you should never click on a link, make a payment or provide personal information in response to any communication unless you have absolutely confirmed that it is legitimate. In response to an email that appears to come from Booking.com, you can either use your Booking.com app to confirm whether the email was legitimate or call Booking.com at a phone number that you know is legitimate or go to the Help Center on the official Booking.com website. Finally, when making a payment for a reservation through Booking.com you should only make the payment on the official website or app.
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Scam of the day – April 14, 2026 – Phony Customer Service Number Scam
Since 2017 I have been warning you about scammers planting phony customer service numbers online and using those numbers to trick their victims into providing personal information or paying them money. Scammers construct 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 believable.
Now scammers are manipulating AI to have their phony customer service numbers appear in Google’s AI Overviews and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. People unfortunately believe that AI is totally trustworthy and call those numbers only to be scammed. AI harvests its information from the Internet and savvy scammers will insert their phony customer service number on online review sites, message boards and numerous websites. The more places the phony numbers appear, the more likely AI will pick them up and suggest them to you when you do an AI search.
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 – April 13, 2026 – Avis Data Breach Class Action Settlement
In August of 2024, the rental car company Avis suffered a data breach in which personal and financial information of 299,000 of its customers was compromised. The compromised information included names, mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and credit card information. This information put Avis’ customers in danger of identity theft and other scams. A class action was filed in September of 2024 alleging that Avis was negligent in failing to implement reasonable security measures. and now that lawsuit has been settled with class members eligible to receive up to $5,000 for documented, unreimbursed losses suffered as a result of the data breach. Class members who did not experience out-of-pocket losses will also receive cash payments from the settlement. The amount of the payments will depend upon on the number of class members making claims. The settlement is scheduled for a final approving hearing before a judge who must approve the settlement On July 28, 2026.
TIPS
In order to be eligible for a payment you must have had personal information compromised in the 2024 data breach and must submit a claim form before June 21, 2026. You can submit a claim form here. https://www.avisdatasecuritysettlement.com/submit-claim
This data breach is a good example of why you should not use your debit card for anything other than as an ATM card. While your liability for fraudulent use of your credit card is limited by law to no more than $50, when you use your debit card, you are making a direct withdrawal from the bank account tied to your card. If your debit card security is breached such as in a data breach your liability is five hundred dollars if you do not report the fraudulent use within two business days after learning of the breach and if you are not regularly monitoring your bank statements and do not report the fraudulent use for more than sixty days after your bank statement with the fraudulent charges is sent to you, your liability is unlimited. This is why you should only use your debit card at ATMs and not for direct shopping.
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Scam of the day – April 12, 2026 – Apple Pay Scam Alerts
Apple Pay is a very safe, secure and convenient way to make payments, but nothing is fool proof. Never underestimate the power of a fool. While Apple Pay uses biometric recognition and tokenization that hides your affiliated credit number scammers are able to use psychology through social engineering to manipulate Apple Pay users into becoming scam victims through a number of different scams.
One particularly effective scam starts with your receiving a text message that appears to come from Apple such as “Apple Pay pre-authorization charge of $143.95 was detected. Account locked. Call Apple Support now: 1-800-***-***.” ( I have removed the scammers phone number.) Anyone responding to the text message by calling the phone number will reach a legitimate sounding scammer who may ask for your name and recent transaction amounts purportedly to verify your identity. They may also ask for device information, verification codes along with bank account or credit card data. Once that information has been turned over to the scammer, they can then use your account to make purchases. In some instances the phony text alert may provide a link to take you to a phony AI created Apple login page where you will also be prompted to provide information that will lead to identity theft or, in a worst case scenario, merely by clicking on the link you will download dangerous malware that will lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.
TIPS
Whenever you get a phone call, text message or email, you can never be sure who is actually calling you. Even if your phone indicates that the call or text message is from Apple, your Caller ID can be manipulated by a scammer through a technique called “spoofing” to appear as if it is coming from Apple when, in truth, it is coming from a scammer. Never provide personal information or click on a link in response to such communications if you have not confirmed that the communication is legitimate.
In order to confirm the status of your Apple Pay account you can either to the Apple Customer Support site of https://support.apple.com/apple-pay or call their real customer support number of 1-800-692-7753.
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