Search Scams
Scam of the day – June 25, 2021 – McAfee Phishing Scam
Recently, law enforcement officials in Nevada warned about a scam that starts with an email that purports to be from McAfee informing you that you are being charged $300 for McAfee Total Protection anti-virus software unless you cancel the order by calling a phone number provided in the email. If you call the number provided you will be greeted by a scammer posing as a McAfee employee who will ask for personal information including a bank account number supposedly to verify the account. Anyone providing this information is well on their way to becoming a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – June 24, 2021 – WhatsApp Account Hijacking Inreasing
A common WhatsApp scam that is happening frequently involves social engineering used to hack your account and then use your account to scam other people. The scam starts when you receive a message through WhatsApp that appears to come from a friend of yours. The message from your trusted friend tells you that you are about to receive a text message and requests that you send that message back to your friend. The truth is that the message you received through WhatsApp is from an account taken over by a hacker who is looking to take over your account too.
Scam of the day – June 23, 2021 – The Danger of Criminal Identity Theft
Criminal identity theft occurs when someone steals your identity and then commits crimes using your name and Social Security number. The problems encountered by someone whose identity has been stolen by a criminal who then commits crimes in the name of the identity theft victim are tremendous. Victims of criminal identity theft have been arrested for crimes they never committed and often have had difficulty having the crimes, committed by someone who stole their identity, removed from their records.
Scam of the day – June 22, 2021 – Another Wells Fargo Phishing Email
Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the email which will download malware or providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, are nothing new. They are a staple of identity thieves and scammers and with good reason because they work. As always, they lure you by making it appear that there is an emergency that requires your immediate attention or else dire consequences will occur.
Scam of the day – June 21, 2021 – Nine Romance Scammers Charged in 2.5 Million Dollar Scheme
Recently federal prosecutors charged nine people from Ghana, Nigeria and the United States with operating romance scams. A number of these scammers posed as “Daniel Moore” who claimed to be from Michigan, but working on an oil rig in Dubai. According to prosecutors this romance scam ring took in more than 2.5 million dollars from their victims over the last four years. According to U.S. Attorney Lisa Johnston, “Crimes involving romance scams and other online scams are increasing at an alarming rate. This case is a reminder that users of email, texts and social media should be aware of such scams and exercise extreme caution.”
Scam of the day – June 20, 2021 – Phony PayPal Invoice Scam
Scammers posing as PayPal are sending phony invoices by email in an effort to lure people into calling the phony customer service number in the bogus email to to challenge the invoice. They are then prompted to provide personal information used to make them victims of identity theft.
Scam of the day – June 19, 2021 – REAL ID Scams
The REAL ID Act established new security requirements for driver’s licenses and identification cards with which all states must comply and which will eventually be needed by you if you wish to board an airplane or enter certain federal facilities although you can still do so if you have a passport. The original date by which you had to get a REAL ID was originally set at October 1, 2021, however due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the deadline has been postponed until May 3, 2023. This is both good news and bad news. It is good news because it gives you more time to get your REAL ID, but it is also bad news because it gives scammers more time to contact you posing as governmental officials seeking your personal information under the guise of helping you apply for your REAL ID when their real purpose is to harvest your personal information and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – June 18, 2021 – Puppy Scams Continue to Rise
The Nebraska attorney general is warning people about an increase in scammers selling non-existent dogs over the Internet to people looking to buy a dog during the pandemic.
Scam of the day – June 17, 2021 – What to do if Your Email is Hacked
If you email account is hacked you need to take a number of steps including changing your password to protect the security of your account.
Scam of the day – June 16, 2021 – Mistaken Zelle Payment Scam
A complicated scam that is happening now occurs when you receive a call telling you that the caller mistakenly used Zelle, Venmo or one of the other similar P2P services to send you money intended for someone else and asks you to return it to him or her. When you check your account, you find that indeed money was deposited into your account. But should you return the money? The problem is that scammers connect stolen credit cards to a P2P account and then use it to transfer money to an unsuspecting victim whom they then contact and tell them that the money was sent mistakenly and ask for the money to be returned. Meanwhile, the scammer deletes the stolen credit card from his or her account and replaces it with his own credit card so when you send money, you are not sending it to the credit card used to send you the money, but rather the credit card account of the criminal enabling him or her to launder the illegal funds. When this is discovered, you will end up losing the money you sent.
Scam of the day – June 15, 2021 – Car Wrap Scams Resurfacing
Scammers exploit legitimate advertising through car wraps by either putting an ad on the Internet or contacting you through a mass email or now text messages in which they seek people to have their cars used for advertising through this technique called shrink wrapping. Unsuspecting victims respond to the advertisement and are sent a check for more than the amount that the victim is to be paid for the service. The check is counterfeit and when the victim sends money from his or her account, they lose their money.
Scam of the day – June 14, 2021 – AOL Phishing Scam
Scammers and identity thieves often send out phishing emails that appear to come from AOL, such as the one reproduced below that was sent to me by a Scamicide reader. If you click on the links that appear throughout the email one of two things can occur and both are bad. Either you will end up providing personal information to an identity thief or you will, merely by clicking on the link, download dangerous malware such as ransomware on to your phone, computer or other device.
Scam of the day – June 13, 2021 – Is it You in the Video Scam
The scam starts when you receive a Facebook message with a link to what appears to be a video, which many people would be tempted to click on out of a concern that the video may be significant, however, when you click on the link, you are taken to a phony Facebook login page. If you fall for the scam and type in your username and password, you will have turned over control of your Facebook account to a criminal.
Scam of the day – June 12, 2021 – New Chase Phishing Email
Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the email which download malware or providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, are nothing new. They are a staple of identity thieves and scammers and with good reason because they work. Chase is a popular target for this type of phishing email because it is one of the largest banks in the United States. Like so many phishing emails, this one attempts to lure you into responding by making you think there is an emergency to which you must respond.
Scam of the day – June 11, 2021 – Mavis Wanczyk Scam Strikes Again
Mavis Wanczyk was the lucky winner of a 758 million dollar Powerball drawing in 2017. Not long after she claimed her prize, a scam started appearing in which many people received emails with the message line referring to the Mavis Wanczyk Cash Grant. The email indicated that you were chosen to receive a large cash grant from Mavis Wanczyk. All the lucky strangers receiving the emails had to do was provide personal information in order to qualify for the grant.
Scam of the day – June 10, 2021 – Advance Child Tax Credit Payment Scams Will be Coming Soon
However, beginning on July 15th and continuing monthly until December of 2021, ARPA provides for monthly payments to eligible families. These payments will be an advance on the families’ child tax credit. Eligible people will get up to half of their child tax credit in these monthly payments and the other half when they file their 2021 federal income tax returns. But scammers will be contacting people posing as government officials using this as a hook for purposes of identity theft.
Scam of the day – June 9, 2021 – More to Worry About When You Rent a Car
When you connect your smartphone to a rental car in order to access the car’s infotainment system and other connected features the car may store personal information of yours, such as your mobile phone number, message logs, contact lists and even the content of text messages you received while connected to the car. If you don’t delete this information when you return the car, this information can be accessed by future renters of the car, employees of the rental car company or knowledgeable hackers.
Scam of the day – June 8, 2021 – Summer Car Rental Scams
They are setting up phony car rental company websites and websites that appear to be those of legitimate car rental companies such as Avis or Hertz. Often these phony websites appear high on a Google or other search engine search because the more sophisticated scammers are able to manipulate the algorithms used by search engines to position a website in a search result. Already, many victims of this scam are finding themselves without a car and losing the money they paid for the non-existent car rental.
Scam of the day – June 7, 2021 – Congress Considering the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act
Recently 47 state Attorneys General sent a letter to Congress urging the passage of H.R. 1215, the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act. This bill has two sections. The first is the Stop Senior Scam Act and the second is the Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 2021. According to the FBI elder fraud and scams cost American seniors almost 3 billion dollars each year and the instances of elder fraud exploitation has quadrupled in recent years according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Scam of the day – June 6, 2021 – Social Media Quiz from the Chatham Police Department
Quizzes on Facebook and other social media are very popular, but they can be exploited by identity thieves.
Scam of the day – June 5, 2021 – Facebook Copyright Violation Scam
Scammers love to take over Facebook accounts because people generally trust the posts put up by their friends that appear on their Facebook page. These people forget my motto of “trust me, you can’t trust anyone” and often click on links in these posts or provide information in response to these posts which generally don’t present a problem, but when the post that you think is that of your friend is really from a scammer who has taken over your friend’s Facebook account, the link you click on may download dangerous malware and the information you provide may enable the criminal to make you a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – June 4, 2021 – Geek Squad Refund Scam
There is a new scam involving an email that appears to come from Geek Squad informing you of the renewal of your account and providing a telephone number for you to call to dispute the renewal. When you call, you are prompted to provide information used to make you a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – June 3, 2021 – MoneyGram Update
Pursuant to a settlement between the FTC and MoneyGram, the FTC is refunding money to scam victims who used MoneyGram to wire money to a wide variety of scammers. You can file a claim at http://www.moneygramremission.com.
Scam of the day – June 2, 2021 – Go Fund Me Scam in Wake of San Jose Mass Shooting
Recently there have been a surge in mass shootings around the country including one at a rail yard in San Jose, California in which nine men were killed. Soon after the shooting a phony GoFundMe page was set up for Michael Rudornetkin one of the men killed people in the shooting. It has since been taken down, but two more phony GoFundMe pages for victims were soon posted.
Scam of the day – June 1, 2021 – Bank Text Message Scams
Phony text messages called “smishing” are sent by scammers to lure people into providing personal information used for identity theft.
Scam of the day – May 31, 2021 – Memorial Day Scams
Scammers use Memorial Day as a hook to scam veterans and people who want to give to veteran’s charities.
Scam of the day – May 30, 2021 – FTC and FDA Take Action Against Infertility Scammers
The FTC and FDA are sending letters to companies selling bogus treatments for infertility.
Scam of the day – May 29, 2021 – Hurricane and Wildfire Scams Will Soon be With Us
As we have seen far too well during the Coronavirus pandemic, scammers are quite capable of taking whatever is happening in society and turning it into an opportunity to scam people. Natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires are common occurrences and we are...
Scam of the day – Mary 28, 2021 – Phony Grant Scams Increasing
The Federal Trade Commission is warning people about an increase in scams involving scammers convincing their victims that they are eligible for large government grants if they merely pay a processing fee. This is a scam. The federal government does not charge fees...
Scam of the day – May 27, 2021 – Ohio Vax-a-Million Scams
The primary way to defeat the Coronavirus pandemic is through enough people becoming vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. Health officials have indicated that 70% of the population would be required to be vaccinated to reach this important goal. Unfortunately,...
Scam of the day – May 26, 2021 – Phony Job Listing Scams Increasing
Phony advertisements for non-existent jobs that lure people into either giving the scammer money or personal information that can be used for purposes of identity theft have been a common scam for many years, but particularly during the pandemic this scam has gotten...
Scam of the day – May 25, 2021 – Beware of Phony Coronavirus Prevention Products
While the Coronavirus pandemic finally appears to be lessening, it still poses a significant health risk. Much of the credit for the reduction of the pandemic is due to the increasing number of people who are getting vaccinated with vaccines created by companies such...
Scam of the day – May 24, 2021 – Romance Scammer Convicted
Romance scams, which have been a problem for a long time have increased dramatically during the Coronavirus pandemic. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Americans lost more money to romance scams last year than to any other scam and the situation is...
Scam of the day – May 23, 2021 – DocuSign Phishing Email
DocuSign is a company that provides technology for the transmission of contracts and other documents with features for electronic signatures. DocuSign is used by many businesses. Recently I received a phishing email, reproduced below that purported to be sent by my...
Scam of the day – May 22, 2021 – Extended Car Warranty Robocalls
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued a warning about a dramatic increase in extended car warranty scams being perpetrated through robocalls. Many of these robocalls appear to come from "Susie" of the "Vehicle Service Department." Often the caller even...
Scam of the day – May 21, 2021 – FTC Reports Cryptocurrency Scams Soaring
Interest in cryptocurrencies is extremely high and prominent in the discussions of cryptocurrencies is Elon Musk who has proven to be able to move the value of cryptocurrencies in general and Dogecoin in particular in response to his tweets, comments and television...
Scam of the day – May 20, 2021 – Another Student Loan Scammer Settles with FTC
I have written many times over the last ten years about student loan scams because scammers have successfully targeted college students and their parents for a variety of scams related to these extensive loans. In October of 2017 the Federal Trade Commission, working...
Scam of the day – May 19, 2021 – FTC Settles Claim Against Deceptive CBD Marketer
CBD is an abbreviation for cannabinoid which is a substance found in marijuana. CBD has been legal under federal law since 2018 although some states have restrictions on its use and three states ban it. Early research tends to indicate that CBD can be helpful in...
Scam of the day – May 18, 2021 – UPS Phishing Scam
During the social distancing and quarantining that has become the hallmark of the Coronavirus pandemic, deliveries by UPS, Federal Express, Amazon and others became the primary way many of us are did all or almost all of our shopping. With so many people having goods...
Scam of the day – May 17, 2021 – Bank Remote Access Scam
In a sad story out of Elmwood Park, Illinois,Jamil Quandah lost his entire life savings when scammers convinced Quandah to give them remote access to his bank account and Home Equity Credit Line which they promptly drained leaving Quandah penniless. The scam started...
Scam of the day – May 16, 2021 – Important Microsoft Security Updates
It is always important to update all of the software you use with the latest security updates and patches as soon as they are available. Numerous hacks and data breaches could have been avoided if individuals as well as companies installed security updates as soon as...
Scam of the day – May 15, 2021 – Ridiculous Nigerian Email Scam Example
Today's Scam of the day comes from a regular Scamicide reader and is another version of the Nigerian email scam that continues to plague the online community. Although it may seem that the Nigerian email scam began in the era of the Internet, the origin of the scam...
Scam of the day – May 14, 2021 – Deceased Identity Theft is a Growing Problem
Not even the dead are immune from identity theft and this particular type of identity theft is now on the rise. Deceased identity theft or ghosting is a major problem. The number of deceased people whose identities were stolen last year reached 2.5 milIion people. ...
Scam of the day – May 13, 2021 – Your Porn Name Scam
Social Media such as Facebook is filled with surveys, quizzes and games and while they are very popular and often entertaining, they often are exploited by identity thieves. A good example of this is the "10 Concerts, but there is one act that I haven't seen live....
Scam of the day – May 12, 2021 – Virginia Man Convicted of Identity Theft Through Stolen Mail
Identity theft can be high tech, low tech or no tech. Stealing mail from mailboxes for purposes of identity theft has been done by identity thieves for years. Numerous times over the last ten years I have warned you about the danger of having your mail, such as...
Scam of the day – May 11, 2021 – Another Gift Card Scam Victim
Scammers are big fans of gift cards because they are easy to purchase, easy to send to the scammer and impossible to trace back to the scammer. It is not even necessary for the scammer to be in possession of the actual gift card to use it. Sending the gift card...
Scam of the day – May 10, 2021 – Dangerous Microsoft Phishing Email.
I have heard from a number of Scamicide readers about today's Scam of the day, which is also one that I have plucked from my own email as well. It has several variations, but it generally involves an email that appears to come from Microsoft in which the targeted...
Scam of the day – May 9, 2021 – Mother’s Day Scams
Today is Mother's Day and once again we must be vigilant about not falling prey to scams related to this holiday. Anything popular with the public will always be popular with scammers. Although for many of us Mother's Day is an opportunity to show our mothers how...
Scam of the day – May 8, 2021 – Operation Protect Veterans
It is a sad commentary on life today that veterans who have served their country valiantly are particularly targeted by scammers. According to the United States Postal Service (USPS) 78% of retired military men and women have been targeted by scammers and research...
Scam of the day – May 7, 2021 – FTC Stops 30 More Marketers of Bogus COVID-19 Cures and Treatments
While the Coronavirus pandemic has gotten somewhat better in much of the United States and vaccines are increasingly available, the pandemic still poses a significant health threat both here in the United States and around the world. However, even though the absolute...