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Scam of the day – December 6, 2019 – Russian Hacking Group Evil Corp. Face Criminal Charges
Russians Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev who the Justice Department allege operated an international cybercrime organization known as Evil Corp (which sounds like it should be the villain in an Austin Powers movie) were charged yesterday with stealing 100 million...
read moreScam of the day – December 5, 2019 – Netflix Hackers Reactivating Canceled Accounts
Some former Netflix subscribers who cancelled their accounts are reporting that they are still being charged for their subscriptions. The problem arises when scammers using the username and passwords of the former Netflix subscribers to log into the canceled accounts...
read moreScam of the day – December 4, 2019 – CISA Extortion Scam
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a federal agency created in 2018 that works with both the public and private sectors to build and maintain our nation's infrastructure and protect it from cyberattacks. CISA recently issued a warning to...
read moreScam of the day – December 3, 2019 – Holiday Wine Exchange Scam
Illegal pyramid schemes take many forms. A few weeks ago I warned you about the Secret Sister Gift Exchange. I first reported to you about this scam in 2015. It seems harmless enough when you see it come up in your email or on social media, such as Facebook and...
read moreScam of the day – December 2, 2019 – A Variety of Gift Card Scams
Buying a gift card as a gift is both an easy way to purchase a gift for someone and a good way to make sure that the gift is something that the receiver of the gift can actually use and enjoy. It definitely is a win-win situation. However, scammers are always ready...
read moreScam of the day – December 1, 2019 – Phony Retail Websites
Imagine Andy Williams singing, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and it may indeed be the most wonderful time of the year for many people, but it is not so wonderful if you have been scammed by cybercriminals who really do find the holiday shopping season to...
read moreScam of the day – November 30, 2019 – A New Facebook Lottery Scam
During the years that I have been writing Scamicide I have written many times about various Facebook scams. The reason for this is that with 2.8 billion users, Facebook is obviously popular and anything popular with that many people will be sought after as a vehicle...
read moreScam of the day – November 29, 2019 – Another Major Ransomware Attack
It has only been a couple of days since I wrote about another major ransomware attack and now there has been another to report to you about. Ransomware is the name for malware that once installed on a computer, often unwittingly through clicking on links in spear...
read moreScam of the day – November 28, 2019 – Get Ready for Black Friday
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We all have much for which we should be thankful. Tomorrow is the official start of the holiday shopping season. This day is often referred to as Black Friday, which traditionally is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. This...
read moreScam of the day – November 27, 2019 – Ransomware Attacks Hundreds of Veterinary Hospitals Around the World
I have written many times about ransomware because it continues to be a major problem for businesses, governments and individuals alike. Ransomware is the name for malware that once installed on a computer, often unwittingly through clicking on links in spear...
read moreScam of the day – November 26, 2019 – Ten People Charged in Huge Romance Scam
Over the years I have warned you many times about romance scams, but it is important to do so again because these scams are getting worse. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Americans lost more money to romance scams last year than to any other scam and...
read moreScam of the day – November 25, 2019 – Sneaker Scams on Instagram
Sneakers can be extremely expensive. For example, a pair of Air Jordan 2 OG sneakers sells for $31,000. While most sneakers are not that expensive, they are still a costly item. Many young people collect sneakers and are looking for deals when they can. Recently...
read moreScam of the day – November 24, 2019 – FTC Refunding Money to Victims of Skin Care Product Scam
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is mailing refunds to victims of a scam operated by seven people and fifteen companies selling Auravie, Dellure, LeOR Skincare and Miracle Face Kit branded skincare products. These scammers represented that the products were being...
read moreScam of the day – November 23, 2019 – Macy’s Suffers Data Breach
Macy's has announced that its macys.com website was hacked for one week in October resulting in a data breach in which customers' names, addresses, credit card numbers and debit card numbers were stolen leaving them in significant danger of identity theft. Macy's has...
read moreScam of the day – November 22, 2019 – A New Scam Targeting Veterans
I have written many times over the years about scams targeting veterans and with good reason. While scams affect us all, according to a witness at a recent Senate Committee on Aging hearing, veterans are twice as likely to be scammed than the general population and...
read moreScam of the day – November 21, 2019 – Disney+ Accounts Hacked
Within hours of the launch of the new Disney+ streaming service thousands of account holders discovered their accounts had been hacked and their access to their accounts denied. In many instances, the cybercriminals hacked into the Disney + accounts of their victims...
read moreScam of the day – November 20, 2019 – SIM Swapping Arrests
SIM card swapping is a major problem. 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...
read moreScam of the day – November 19, 2019 – Are Public USB Chargers at Airports Safe?
Recently, the Los Angeles District Attorney issued a warning about the dangers of charging your phone at the USB chargers commonly found at airports, hotels and other public locations. A few years ago cyber security company Kaspersky Lab issued a report detailing the...
read moreScam of the day – November 18, 2019 – Binary Option Scams
Convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff who stole 50 billion dollars from unsuspecting victims may be the last person from whom you would accept investing advice, but in fact, his advice, as contained in a 2014 jailhouse interview Madoff gave to the Wall Street Journal...
read moreScam of the day – November 17, 2019 – National Utility Scam Awareness Week
Scams involving utility bills for electric, water or gas services have long been popular with scammers. Utilities United Against Scams, a consortium of more than 100 American and Canadian utility companies has designated the week of November 17-23rd as National...
read moreScam of the day – November 16, 2019 – Gift Card Scams
Buying a gift card as a gift is both an easy way to purchase a gift for someone and a good way to make sure that the gift is something that the receiver of the gift can actually use and enjoy. It definitely is a win-win situation. However, scammers are always ready...
read moreScam of the day – November 15, 2019 – Phony Costco Coupon on Facebook
Everyone loves coupons and like many things in our lives, coupons which used to be found commonly in newspapers and magazines have migrated online. The coupon scam about which I am warning you today is a phony Costco $75 coupon that is turning up on Facebook and other...
read moreScam of the day – November 14, 2019 – FTC Sues Another Student Loan Debt Relief Company
I have written often about phony student loan debt relief companies and with good reason. 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...
read moreScam of the day – November 13, 2019 – Apple 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 trick you into providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, are...
read moreScam of the day – November 12, 2019 – New Netflix Phishing Scam
The popularity of Netflix makes it a preferred subject for phishing emails which appear to come from Netflix. In these phishing emails you are told you need to update your credit card information or asked for other personal information. I have written about a number...
read moreScam of the day – November 11, 2019 – Secret Sister Scam Returns
What is old, is new again. According to numerous reports around the country, the Secret Sister scam is back. I first reported to you about this scam in 2015. It seems harmless enough when you see it come up in your email or on social media, such as Facebook and...
read moreScam of the day – November 10, 2019 – Veterans Scams
Tomorrow we will celebrate Veterans' Day, a day we set aside to honor those who have served our country and to whom all Americans owe a debt of gratitude. However, for scam artists, Veterans' Day is just another opportunity to take advantage of the best intentions of...
read moreScam of the day – November 9, 2019 – FTC Sues Alleging Illegal Pyramid Scheme
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued multi-level marketer Neora LLC, formerly known as Nerium International, LLC alleging that the company operated an illegal pyramid scheme. Additionally, the FTC is alleging that Nerium deceptively and falsely promoted "EHT"...
read moreScam of the day – November 8, 2019 – New American Express Phishing Email
Today's Scam of the day is about a phishing email that purports to be from American Express. It was brought to my attention by a Scamicide reader who received it and frankly it is one of the most convincing phishing emails that I have seen in a long time. The...
read moreScam of the day – November 7, 2019 – Another Real Estate Seminar Scam
It was just about three weeks ago that I told you about he Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection suing Zurixx, LLC, a company that puts on real estate seminars in which attendees were supposedly told how to make large amounts of...
read moreScam of the day – November 6, 2019 – Real Estate Email Scam
I have been reporting to you about this particular scam preying upon home buyers for three years. Earlier this summer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a warning about the scam and its dramatic increase. This week there were reports about the...
read moreScam of the day – November 5, 2019 – Mavis Wanczyk Twitter Scam
Many people may not remember the name of Mavis L. Wanczyk, but she 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 an email with the message line...
read moreScam of the day – November 4, 2019 – California Wildfire Charity Scams
Natural disasters, such as the dozens of wildfires that have forced hundreds of thousands of people in California to flee their homes bring out the best in people who want to donate to charities to help the victims. Unfortunately natural disasters also bring out the...
read moreScam of the day – November 3, 2019 – FBI Warns About E-Skimming
Regular readers of Scamicide are certainly familiar with skimmers which are devices installed on ATMs and credit and debit card processors that steal information from credit and debit cards thereby enabling criminals to use that information to make charges on those...
read moreScam of the day – November 2, 2019 – CFPB Brings Legal Action Against Student Loan Dept Relief Companies
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...
read moreScam of the day – November 1, 2019 – FTC Releases Consumer Fraud Survey
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has just released the results of a comprehensive survey conducted two years ago regarding consumer fraud. According to the survey approximately 40 million people were fraud victims in 2017 with the most common types of fraud being...
read moreScam of the day – October 31, 2019 – Publishers Clearing House Scam
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 – October 30, 2019 – FTC Sues Publisher Targeting Seniors with Scams
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Agora Financial, LLC alleging it scammed seniors into buying books, newsletters and other publications that falsely claimed a cure for type 2 diabetes. They also are accused of perpetrating a scam related to a non-existent...
read moreScam of the day – October 29, 2019 – The Internet’s Most Dangerous Celebrities
Each year, computer security company, McAfee releases a list of the most dangerous celebrities on the Internet. These are people whose popularity is exploited by identity thieves and hackers who lure unsuspecting people through links in emails, social media and text...
read moreScam of the day – October 28, 2019 – Phony Kidnapping Scam
The Palm Springs California Police Department warned the public this week about a phony kidnapping scam that has been occurring throughout the country. I have been warning you about phony kidnapping scams, also known as virtual kidnapping, for seven years. The scam...
read moreScam of the day – October 27, 2019 – Alleged Ponzi Schemer Charged
Recently the Department of Justice obtained a grand jury indictment against Hal H. Brown Jr. on charges related to his alleged operation of a Ponzi scheme. Although, Charles Ponzi was not the first to use the technique of paying off early investors with the...
read moreScam of the day – October 26, 2019 – New Apple 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 trick you into providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, are...
read moreScam of the day – October 25, 2019 – Microsoft Ending Support for Windows 7: What Does it Mean to You?
We all remember the massive 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack that affected computers in 74 countries including the UK where its entire health care system was affected. Ransomware is the name for malware that once installed on a computer, often unwittingly through...
read moreScam of the day – October 24, 2019 – Yahoo Phishing Email
Today's Scam of the day is another phishing email sent to me from a Scamicide reader who had received it. A copy of the short email appears below. As with all phishing emails, its purpose is to lure you into clicking on a link in order to resolve some problem. DO...
read moreScam of the day – October 23, 2019 – FTC Releases National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for 2019
Since it began in 2003, the National Do Not Call list has grown to include more than 239.5 million phone numbers. When you register your phone number with the Do Not Call list it becomes illegal for telemarketers to contact you by phone. The Do Not Call list does...
read moreScam of the day – October 22, 2019 – Yahoo Data Breach Settlement
If you had a Yahoo account between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016 including a Yahoo email account, a Yahoo Fantasy Sports account, a Tumblr account or a Flickr account you are eligible for two years of free credit monitoring services or a cash payment of as...
read moreScam of the day – October 21, 2019 – Cell Phone Security
Let's start with the good news. Although many security experts still warn people to avoid public USB ports for charging your phone, such as commonly found at airports, the threat to the security of your phone by charging at one of these public charging stations is...
read moreScam of the day – October 20, 2019 – Phony Charity Ads on Social Media
According to the old proverb (are there any new proverbs?) the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The truth of this proverb has been proved recently by a number of scammers who are placing advertisements on your social media sites offering a wide variety of...
read moreScam of the day – October 19, 2019 – Dutch Prostitution Site Suffers Data Breach
Sex workers in the Netherlands and their customers use the website Hooker.nl as an online forum. It was recently disclosed that the site had been hacked and personal information of 250,000 sex workers and their customers was stolen. While prostitution is legal in...
read moreScam of the day – October 18, 2019 – Tech Support Scammers Arrested
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...
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