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Scam of the day – April 26, 2019 – Cryptocurrency Thief Sentenced
Recently in California, Joel Ortiz was sentenced to ten years in prison for hacking into cell phones and stealing more than 7.5 million dollars worth of cryptocurrencies from at least forty victims. Ortiz was able to accomplish these crimes through SIM swapping...
read moreScam of the day – April 25, 2019 – New Chip Card Scam
The technology behind the chip credit card was intended to eliminate much of the credit card and debt card fraud that was formerly easy to accomplish with the older magnetic strip credit and debit cards which contained all of the account information on the magnetic...
read moreScam of the day – April 24, 2019 – Tax Refund Text Message Scam
Scams are found everywhere and readers of Scamicide can be found in many countries throughout the world which is why I write about scams wherever they may occur. The income tax filing deadline of April 15th just recently passed, but the scams will not end as scammers...
read moreScam of the day – April 23, 2019 – Grandparent Scam Getting Worse
According to a new report recently released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports of the grandparent scam rose to almost 20,000 during a fifteen month period from late 2017 through 2018 at a cost of approximately 42 million dollars which is double the amount...
read moreScam of the day – April 22, 2019 – Notre Dame Fire Charity Scams
Today's Scam of the day is one that I have had to write about a number of times in the years that I have been writing Scamicide.com, but unfortunately, it is still necessary to warn people repeatedly about this type of scam. Disasters, whether they are natural...
read moreScam of the day – April 21, 2019 – Easter and Passover Scams
Easter is today and Passover, which goes on for a week, began two days ago. While these holidays are a happy time for people celebrating these holidays, they also are another opportunity for scammers. A common holiday scam involves phony electronic greeting cards...
read moreScam of the day – April 20, 2019 – Facebook Phony Grant Scam
It is not surprising that Facebook has been a favorite medium for scammers. Its very popularity and the fact that on Facebook you are communicating with your friends is reason enough for scammers to use Facebook as a platform for scams. There has been a resurgence...
read moreScam of the day – April 19, 2019 – Brokerage Account and Retirement Account Increasing
A famous bank robber, once responded "because that is where the money is" when asked why he robbed banks. Therefore it should come as no surprise that scam artists the only criminals we call artists, are increasingly targeting the brokerage and retirement accounts...
read moreScam of the day – April 18, 2019 – New Variation on Phony Debt Collection Scam
Phony debt collectors are calling people and scamming their victims into paying for non-existent debts. Learn here how to recognize this scam and protect yourself.
read moreScam of the day – April 17, 2019 – Nigerian Email Revisited
Today's Scam of the day 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 basis of the scam actually goes back to 1588 when it was known...
read moreScam of the day – April 16, 2019 – Major Email Services Hacked
Microsoft has disclosed that it suffered a data breach in which email services that it operates, Outlook, MSN and Hotmail were compromised. According to MIcrosoft, the hackers were able to leverage a customer support account to access the email accounts of a...
read moreScam of the day – April 15, 2019 – Ransomware Continues to be a Major Problem
Ransomware attacks have increased dramatically in 2019. Recently the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning about ransomware and steps you can take to combat the problem. Here is a link to that warning: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST19-001 Ransomware...
read moreScam of the day – April 14, 2019 – New Adobe Security Updates
Adobe has just issued new security updates for the popular, but intensely flawed Adobe Flash Player along with other Adobe products. Not long ago, Adobe confirmed that it will stop updating and distributing Adobe Flash at the end of 2020 although frankly, it would...
read moreScam of the day – April 13, 2019 – Homeless Veteran Involved in GoFundMe Scam Gets Probation
It started out in November of 2017 as a feel-good story about Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless veteran, who, according to the story reported throughout the media, gave his last twenty dollars to Kate McClure a stranded motorist who had run out of gas at the side of a road...
read moreScam of the day – April 12, 2019 – FTC Shuts Down Makers of Phony Brain Supplements
The FTC has settled charges it brought against four individuals and their companies that sold bogus supplements that promised to increase your cognitive abilities. Here is a link to the FTC's original complaint....
read moreScam of the day – April 11, 2019 – Wells Fargo Phishing Email
Here is another good example of a phishing email that is presently being circulated. It makes for compelling reading, but it is a scam. Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the...
read moreScam of the day – April 10, 2019 – New Cell Phone Scam
The recent arrest in Florida of two scammers has highlighted a new scam criminals are using to enable them to charge expensive cell phone to your accounts. According to Clearwater, Florida police, Ah'jhzae Diamondric Artag Berry and Keith Ramsey contacted their...
read moreScam of the day – April 9, 2019 – Game of Thrones Malware Threat
Game of Thrones is one of the most popular television shows of all time and fans of the show are eagerly waiting the April 14th release on HBO of the first episode of the final season. Of course anything popular with many people is also going to be popular with...
read moreScam of the day – April 8, 2019 – Toyota Suffers Major Data Breach
Many of us are said to have data breach fatigue, which means that due to so many massive data breaches occurring in recent years, such as the Equifax data breach of 2017 in which 145 million people had personal information stolen, we have become numbed and fail to...
read moreScam of the day – April 7, 2019 – Georgia Man Convicted of Hacking Apple Accounts of Athletes and Musicians
Kwamaine Jerell Ford pleaded guilty last week in Federal Court in Atlanta to charges related to his hacking into the accounts of hundreds of prominent professional athletes and rappers. The technique Ford used to hack into the accounts of his victims was simple and...
read moreScam of the day – April 6, 2019 – Craig Carton Sentenced to 3.5 Years in Prison
Yesterday, popular New York sports talk radio host Craig Carton, half of the popular WFAN morning talk show "Boomer and Carton" was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in regard to a scam in which he and two other men, Michael Wright and Joseph Meli ...
read moreScam of the day – April 5, 2019 – Law Enforcement Busts Child Identity Theft Ring
Child identity theft has become a big problem in recent years. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, a million American children became victims of identity theft last year at a cost of 2.6 billion dollars in total losses to the families. Children are prime...
read moreScam of the day – April 4, 2019 – Phone Scammer Convicted
Impostor scams where the scammers pose as IRS agents, Social Security employees, law enforcement and many others are a staple of scammers. They often make these calls from large call centers that can be located anywhere in the world. Through "spoofing" many scammers...
read moreScam of the day – April 3, 2019 – Seniors Scams and Identity Theft
Today's Scam of the day departs from our usual format to provide access to a Webinar I gave through the law firm with which I am affiliated, Margolis & Bloom. Whether you are a senior or someone who has older family members, you may find this webinar and the...
read moreScam of the day – April 2, 2019 – Political Issue Robocall Scam
While the 2020 presidential election is more than a year away, the intensity of the debate over political issues in this country is extremely high and scammers are taking advantage of that fact by using robocalls to call people posing as prominent politicians, such as...
read moreScam of the day – November 20, 2018 – Publishers Clearing House Scams
Publishers Clearing House, the sponsor of some of the most popular legitimate lotteries in the country no longer limits its contests to one or two a year, but has numerous lotteries each month. Recently there has been an increase in reports of scammers calling people...
read moreScam of the day – April 1, 2019 – Summer Rental Scams Already Happening
While it is only the first of April, many people will be renting a vacation home in the days and weeks ahead in order to get a high demand rental at the beach, mountains or some other vacation venue. Reports of these scams are already being reported on Martha's...
read moreScam of the day – March 31, 2019 – Work at Home Scam
Working at home sounds very appealing. No commute and you get to work in your pajamas. What could be more convenient than that? Years ago, stuffing envelopes was a common work at home scam. That scam has been updated by other scammers to offers of being paid to...
read moreScam of the day – March 30, 2019 – Identity Theft Tied to USPS Informed Delivery Service
In 2017 the United States Postal Service began its Informed Delivery Program and I have been warning you since then about identity theft risks related to the program. Under the Informed Delivery Program, you can sign up for a free service of the U.S. Postal Service...
read moreScam of the day – March 29, 2019 – Facebook Lottery Scam
It is not surprising that Facebook has been a favorite platform for scammers. Its very popularity and the fact that on Facebook you are communicating with your friends is reason enough for scammers to use Facebook as a place for scams because you are more likely to...
read moreScam of the day – March 28, 2019 – Attached PDF Phishing Scam
Today's Scam of the day comes from my own email where today I received an email from someone whom I don't know or recognize. The email came with the subject line indicating the name of the person purportedly sending the email and the words "shared 'Review Paper' with...
read moreScam of the day – March 27, 2019 – Dead Woman Becomes Victim of Identity Theft
Another scam, about which I have written numerous times before, was in the news recently when Linda Longacre of Oklahoma became a victim of identity theft weeks after her death when a check written by an identity thief was deducted from her account. Not even the...
read moreScam of the day – March 26, 2019 – FTC Stops Tech Support Scam
Tech support scams in which consumers are tricked by scammers into believing there is a problem with their computers that require the expensive services of the scammers is a major problem. Tech support scams are increasingly common and victimize consumers 60 years or...
read moreScam of the day – March 25, 2019 – Natural Disaster Scams
Natural disasters bring out the best in people who want to donate to charities to help the victims. Unfortunately natural disasters such as the floods going on now in the Midwest also bring out the worst in scammers who are quick to take advantage of the generosity...
read moreScam of the day – March 24, 2019 – New IRS Identity Theft Protection Procedures
Income tax identity theft, by which identity thieves file phony income tax returns with counterfeit W-2s using the Social Security numbers and names of their victims is still a major problem for the IRS and taxpayers costing us all billions of dollars each year...
read moreScam of the day – March 23, 2019 – March Madness Scams
March Madness is upon us and many people in the United States are following intently the NCAA college basketball tournament. While many of these people are sports fans, merely enjoying the competition, many others bet on the games, largely through office pools where...
read moreScam of the day – March 22, 2019 – Phony Kidnapping Scam
I have been warning you about phony kidnapping scams, also known as virtual kidnapping, for seven years, but recently there has been a resurgence of this particular scam around the country. The scam starts with a telephone call informing the person answering the...
read moreScam of the Day – March 21, 2019 – Ponzi Scammer Combined Religion and Radio
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently filed criminal charges against investment adviser William Neil "Doc" Gallagher who has been accused by the SEC of operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme in which he victimized mostly elderly clients...
read moreScam of the Day – March 20, 2019 – Mystery Shopper Scam Continues to Claim Victims
I have written many times over the last seven years about the mystery shopper scam because it continues to ensnare unwary victims. In one version of the scam which unfortunately involved a Scamicide reader, she was sent an email from a company along with a legitimate...
read moreScam of the day – March 19, 2019 – Suspended Social Security Scam
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear is warning citizens about a Social Security related scam that I first warned you about in September of 2018. Scammers are calling people on the phone posing as employees of the Social Security Administration and telling their...
read moreScam of the day – March 18, 2019 – Pastor Text Message Scam
I first warned you about a variation of this particular scam in June of 2017 and again last summer and now it has resurfaced again with a slight new twist. The 2018 version of this scam involved local church members receiving what appeared to be emails from their...
read moreScam of the day – March 17, 2019 – Freezing Your Child’s Credit Updated
I have been telling you about credit freezes for children since last September when a new federal law went into effect that permits consumers to freeze and unfreeze their credit reports for free. You can now freeze and unfreeze your credit at each of the major credit...
read moreScam of the day – March 16, 2019 – Australian Charged With Sim Card Swapping
A Subscriber Identity Module, more commonly known as a SIM card, is an integrated circuit that stores information used to authenticate subscribers on mobile devices, such as a cell phone. The SIM card is able to be transferred between different devices, and often is,...
read moreScam of the day – March 15, 2019 – Jury Duty Scams Continue
I have been warning you about the jury duty scam for seven years, but it continues to snare many unwary victims. Recently there have been increasing reports of this scam being perpetrated around the country.The scam starts with a telephone call that you receive...
read moreScam of the day – March 14, 2109 – Sweepstakes Scammers Settle With FTC
Over the years, I have written many times about lottery and sweepstakes scams, which continue to be one of the most popular and profitable scams for scammers. Scammers use lottery and sweepstakes scams to cheat people out of millions of dollars each year by tricking...
read moreScam of the day – March 13, 2019 – FTC Sending Checks to Victims of Get Rich Quick Scheme
I have been reporting to you about this particular scam since December of 2017 when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint in Federal Court against Ronnie Montano, Hyong Su Kim, Martin Schranz and their companies, eMobile Code, Easy Cash Code, Full Money...
read moreScam of the day – March 12, 2019 – Elder Financial Abuse
The problem of financial abuse of seniors was highlighted again recently with the arrest in California of Charisma Denise Wells on charges related to illegally using the credit card of a 92 year old woman for whom Ms. Wells was serving as a temporary caretaker. Also...
read moreScam of the day – March 11, 2019 – Formjacking
Formjacking may be one of the most effective cybercriminal tactics that you have, most likely, never heard of. According to the security company Symantec, approximately 4,800 websites of small, medium and large businesses are targeted by this type of attack each...
read moreScam of the day – March 10, 2019 – Microsoft Refund Scam
Microsoft is one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world with a market valuation of close to a trillion dollars so it might seem surprising to many people who are receiving phone calls telling them that Microsoft is going out of business and a judge...
read moreScam of the day – March 9, 2019 – FTC Returns Money to Victims of Weight Loss Scam
Weight loss scams are among the most common scams and with good reason. Many people want to lose weight and most of the scam products promise to do that for you easily without diet or exercise. The unfortunate truth is that there is no magic formula for quick and easy...
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