Search Scams
Scam of the day – October 27, 2026 – Veterans Saving Program Scam
Veterans are a frequent target of scammers. Earlier this year North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson issued a warning to veterans about a scam targeting veterans not just in North Carolina, but around the country. The scam is presently being circulated through postcards or letters, but is also being done through phone calls including automated robocalls as well as emails and text messages in which the scammer poses as a an agent of the VA, Social Security, CHAMPVA or TRICARE offering enrollment in what the scammer calls the Veterans Savings Program. The scammers claim that through the program the veterans can receive monthly payments of $200 or more, free or discounted dental insurance coverage and special savings benefits unavailable to the general public. The veteran is prompted to call a provided number to enroll.
Scam of the day – October 26, 2026 – The Danger of Trojan Subscribers
Trojan subscribers are malicious code that cybercriminals add to legitimate apps and then upload them to app stores under a different name. The apps can be for a variety of purposes, such as monitoring blood pressure or scanning documents. When someone downloads one of these infected apps, he or she doesn’t realize that the Trojan subscriber will automatically subscribe to a paid service without the person who downloaded the app being aware of it.
Scam of the day – October 25, 2026 – FBI Issues Warning About Imposter Scam
Recently the Newark office of the FBI issued a warning about scammers posting as FBI, DEA and Secret Service agents calling their targeted victims and under a variety of pretenses including, but not limited to, missing federal jury duty, having an outstanding arrest warrant or that their identity has been used to traffic in illegal drugs convince the targeted victim that they need to move their money through crypto ATMs to a “safe” account provided by the FBI or by git card or wiring money to the scammers to resolve the problem. Making the problem worse is that through spoofing of phone numbers, the call received by the scam victim appears to be that of the FBI. The scammers also use the names of real FBI agents and some have even had Zoom meetings where it appears that scammer is calling from FBI headquarters.
Scam of the day – October 24, 2026 – Election Scams (Part 3)
A common election time scam involves a call purportedly from your city or town clerk informing you that you need to re-register or you will be removed from the voting lists. You are then told that you can re-register over the phone merely by providing some personal information, such as your Social Security number. The truth is that you will not be called by your city or town clerk and told that you need to re-register and voter registration is not done by phone.
Scam of the day – October 23, 2026 – Election Scams (Part 2)
Scammers are taking advantage of the public’s interest in the upcoming midterm elections to make robocalls in which they pose as candidates asking for donations. This particular scam can easily seem legitimate. Caller ID can be tricked through a technique called “spoofing” to make it appear to your Caller ID as if the call is coming from a candidate or some political organization and recordings of the candidate can also be incorporated into the call to make the call appear more legitimate. And now through the use of AI the voice of the particular candidate can be cloned and used by scammers posing as the candidate.
Scam of the day – October 22, 2026 – Election Scams (Part One)
Political Action Committees (PACs) are busy raising money to funnel to candidates and organizations trying to influence legislation. Unfortunately, for the last twelve years scammers have been setting up phony PACs that promise to use your money on behalf of your favored candidate or cause, but instead keep the money for their own use. Scammers are calling, emailing and texting people posing as legitimate PACS seeking contributions and even if you are on the federal Do Not Call List, you still are allowed by law to be contacted by phone call or text message by PACs.
Scam of the day – October 21, 2026 – Cryptocurrency Investment Recovery Scam
According to the FBI, Americans lost more than 7.28 billion dollars to cryptocurrency investment scams last year. In some instances, law enforcement has been able to recover some of those lost funds, but in many other instances, the money is lost forever. Sensing an opportunity, according to the FBI, scammers, posing as law firms and representatives of companies that falsely claim to be able to recover funds lost to cryptocurrency scams, are luring in victims through social media, messaging platforms or advertisements. Often the scammers claim affiliation with law enforcement, federal agencies or legitimate legal services providers, but it is all a lie. In return for an up-front payment, the scammers claim they can recover all of the funds lost to a cryptocurrency scam. Of course, this is a lie and anyone who pays the fee loses that money.
Scam of the day – October 20, 2026 – PayPal Resolution Center Scam
Today’s Scam of the day is one that has been around since 2018, but is resurfacing, as many scams do. It starts with a phony email purporting to be from PayPal that indicates that PayPal is investigating a payment reversal due to your receiving an unauthorized payment due to a transaction error. You are directed in the email to click on a link to login and access your PayPal Resolution Center. Don’t do it! Clicking on the link will take you to a phony PayPal website that will lure you into providing your password and other personal information that will lead to identity theft.
Scam of the day – October 19, 2026 – City and Town Permit Scams
Recently the Town of Wellesley, Massachusetts issued a warning about scammers sending emails posing as town officials telling the targeted victim that the permit they have applied for is approved but an additional payments is required to be wired to the account provided in the email. Scammers are able to make the scam persuasive by gathering publicly available information about pending permit applications enabling the scammers to make their emails appear legitimate.
Scam of the day – October 18, 2026 – New Wave of Mavis Wanczyk Scams: How Fake Cash Grants and Social Media Impersonators Target Victims
But not all Mavis Wanczyk scams involve Mavis Wanczyk. Recently a Scamicide reader told me about receiving a message purportedly from someone who identified himself as George Linda Dokken who said he was a philanthropist who would send a “grant” of $50,000 to the lucky Scamicide reader, but required a payment of a few hundred dollars in gift cards before sending the grant money. After paying the requested amount demands for additional payments kept coming, but no grant money was ever paid.
Scam of the day – October 17, 2026 – PayPal Invoice Scam
This email appears to come from PayPal. As always, the purpose of a phishing email is to lure you into clicking on links contained within the email or providing personal information, in this case by phone if you call to dispute the phony bill . If you click on links in phishing emails, you end up downloading malware and if you provide the requested information, it ends up being used to make you a victim of identity theft. This particular phishing email provides a phone number to call if you wish to dispute the obviously phony invoice. If you call the number in the phishing email you will be asked for personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – October 16, 2026 – Is Voice Recognition For Bank Accounts Safe?
Due to now widely available AI voice cloning technology, it can be a simple matter for an identity thief to clone your voice from social media or anywhere else your voice appears and use it to access your bank account if you are using voice verification at your bank. The susceptibility of voice verification technology to AI voice cloning has been proven by tech researchers in numerous instances.
Scam of the day – October 15, 2026 – State Farm Dividend Check Scam
So how can you tell if the communication you received is legitimate. First of all, if you received a text message, it wasn’t from State Farm even if your phone indicates the sender was State Farm. State Farm does not use text messages for dividend payouts. The legitimate email address doesn’t even have the name State Farm in it. The legitimate email address being used by State Farm is donotreply@e.sfdividend.com. However, if you like me, follow my advice of “trust me, you can’t trust anyone” your best bet is to not even click on the link in an email that may appear legitimate, but rather go directly to the official portal for claiming your dividend by typing in the address SFDividend.com directly into your browser just to be safe.
Scam of the day – October 14, 2026 – Spotify Phishing Email
The phony invoice scam is a common scam popular with scammers because it is quite effective. It starts when you receive an email that purports to be from a popular company with which many of us do business that indicates that you owe them a significant payment. The scammers count on people being concerned that they are being wrongfully charged for a product they did not order. You are provided a telephone number to call if you dispute the bill. If you call the number, you will be prompted to provide personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft. Here is a copy of the phony Spotify invoice presently being circulated.
Scam of the day – October 13, 2026 – The Danger of E-Skimmers
Chip card technology, however, offers no protection when credit and debit cards are used for online purchases. The FBI has warned about what it calls E-Skimming which occurs when criminals infect the websites of businesses and government agencies with malware that allows the criminal to steal credit card and debit card information and then use it to make charges using the victim’s credit card or debit card.
Scam of the day – October 12, 2026 – Lost Pet Scams Worse with AI
Today people are even more likely to post on social media about missing pets and scammers are using AI to perpetrate missing pet scams more convincingly. Earlier this year ipet scamsn Deltona, Florida, Bill Cosens posted photos of his dog Archer who had been missing for a day on social media. They soon got a call that appeared to come from a local animal control shelter veterinary service telling Cosens that Archer had been hit by a car and needed emergency surgery and that the cost was $2,746 which should be paid by gift cards.. When Bill Cosens and his wife asked to come see Archer they were told there was no time for that, but the phony vet service would send a photo of Archer being prepared for surgery which they promptly received. Fortunately, the Cosens were skeptical, particularly about the vet demanding payment by gift cards which is something only scammers do and they did not fall for the scam although the AI created photo was very convincing.
Scam of the day – October 11, 2026 – Is the American Community Survey a Scam?
So how can you tell if you are being contacted and solicited for information by a legitimate census worker or by a scammer merely using the American Community Survey as a ruse to gather personal information from you in order to make you a victim of identity theft? First of all, the real American Community Survey does not ask for your Social Security number or credit card information. If you are asked for that information, it is a scam.
Scam of the day – October 10, 2026 – Copy of Your Deed Scam
Having an actual copy of your deed is not very important once it has been recorded in the local Registry of Deeds, however it is still a good record to keep. However, obtaining a copy of your deed on your own from your local Registry of Deeds is both simple and rarely costs more than a few dollars at the most. The problem with this particular scam is that technically, it may be legal in the sense that they are offering to obtain a copy of your deed for you for a fee and there is nothing illegal about that. However, the emails and letters you receive offering this service are usually confusing and misleading which is why I consider them to be a scam.
Scam of the day – October 9, 2026 – FTC Sending Additional Refunds to Victims of Debt Relief Scam
FTC and the Florida Attorney General had settled their lawsuit against an organization called the Helping America Group that got people to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a month by falsely promising to pay, settle, or obtain dismissal of their debts and improve their credit scores. Over time, victims found their debts unpaid, their accounts in default, and their credit scores severely damaged. Some were sued by their creditors, and others were forced into bankruptcy. In the July 18, 2020 Scam of the day I informed you that the FTC was sending more than 16 million dollars to victims of the scam. In 2022 i told you that the FTC was sending a second round of checks to people who lost money to this scam because the FTC was able to recover an additional 6.5 million dollars from the Helping America Group to reimburse victims of the scam. Now because the FTC recovered additional funds from the Helping America Group, the FTC is sending additional checks to victims of the scam.
Scam of the day – October 8, 2026 – Gift Card Draining Continues to Snare Victims
Recently the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center led a multi-agency investigation that resulted in the break up of a gift card draining ring operating in Texas and Arkansas arresting four people accused of running the scam.
Scam of the day -October 7, 2026 – IRS Watchdog Report Details Extensive Delays for Victims of Income Tax Identity Theft
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recently issued a report showing that the IRS continues to experience extensive delays in sending income tax refunds to victims of income tax identity theft with an average processing time now 655 days. As the report indicated, “These lengthy delays can frustrate and burden taxpayers while they wait to receive their refunds.” According to the report the “increased prevalence and sophistication” of income tax identity theft is making the situation worse. Income tax identity theft, by which identity thieves file phony income tax returns with counterfeit W-2s using the Social Security number and name of their victim remains a major problem for the IRS and taxpayers costing us all billions of dollars each year. However, when someone has stolen your Social Security number and filed an income tax return using your name, the problem becomes particularly personal.
Scam of the day – October 6, 2026 – FTC Sending Additional Refunds to Victims of University of Phoenix Scam Settlement
For profit universities have been a target of state and federal investigations for years. I have written about this topic since 2012. It should be noted that not all for profit colleges are scams, but there are a large number of for profit colleges, sometimes...
Scam of the day – October 5, 2026 – Why Scammers Love WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal
One way to recognize a scam is when you start communication with someone on social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram or even through email and they want to move your discussions to WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal which are all legitimate encrypted messaging platforms, but are favorites of scammers because they are encrypted and not monitored as well as other social media where the platforms may be using AI for scam detection.
Scam of the day – October 4, 2026 – Medicare Open Enrollment Scams
Scammers and identity thieves view the open enrollment period as senior citizen hunting season as myriads of Medicare scams are common during this time. Seniors may be contacted by someone purporting to be from their insurance company asking them to verify information. This is a common tactic of identity thieves trying to trick their victims into providing information. They also may be contacted by people claiming to have supplemental insurance programs that will save them thousands of dollars. Here too, you cannot be sure that they are legitimate when they contact you by phone, text message, email or even regular mail. In addition, scammers send phishing emails that appear to come from your employer asking you to review and approve your health care benefit and then lure you into clicking on malware infected links or providing personal information that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – October 3, 2026 – Halloween Costume Scams
It is only October 3rd but many people are preparing for Halloween. Celebrating Halloween has become a major event in recent years with many adults searching for elaborate costumes and of course whenever many people are interested in something, scammers appear ready to take advantage of that interest. Scammers have set up phony Halloween costume websites, often posing as legitimate costume websites. Often the ads for their phony websites are posted on social media as well as appearing high in search engine searches because the scammers either purchase an advertisement in order to get a high position in a search engine search or because they are skilled enough to manipulate the algorithms the search engines use to obtain a high ranking. Pictured below is one of the phony ads that has appeared in social media. Anyone ordering online from one of these phony websites will end up providing their credit card to a scammer.
Scam of the day – October 2, 2026 – Zelle, Venmo or Cash App Accidental Payment Scam
Law Enforcement in Houston recently issued a warning about an insidious new scam involving the electronic person-to-person payment services Venmo, Zelle and Cash App that starts with unexpected funds appearing in your account followed shortly by a message from someone telling you that they mistakenly sent the money to your account and ask for you to send it back to them. Often the scammers tell their intended victim that they need the money to be returned right away because it is needed for rent, a medical bill or some emergency. It is easy to see how convincing this scam can be. The problem is that in many instances the original payment came from a compromised bank account, hacked Venmo, Zelle or Cash App account or stolen credit card and when the crime is discovered the payment will be reversed, however, if you make a return payment from your own account, it is a voluntary authorized payment and you will lose the money you send.
Scam of the day – October 1, 2026 – Publishers Clearing House Scam Alert: How to Spot Fake Prize Calls and Letters
In the last few years there has been an increase in reports of scammers calling people on the telephone and telling them that they have won one of the Publishers Clearing House lotteries, but that they have to pay fees or taxes before being able to claim their prize. In addition there are reports of targeted victims receiving phony notifications by regular mail that they have won a Publishers Clearing House lottery, but that again they must pay fees or taxes before being able to receive their prize.
Scam of the day – September 30, 2026 – FTC Sending Refunds to Victims of Business Opportunity Scam
In the Scam of the day for September 12, 2024 I told you that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had settled lawsuits it had brought against Robert William Shafer and Samuel J. Smith who had operated a business opportunity scam called Blueprint To Wealth that targeted people seeking to start their own businesses. The two scammers charged their victims fees of between $3,000 and $21,000 in addition to administrative fees for membership in the scheme which promised its members turnkey online businesses that were represented to be operated on the members’ behalf, however, there was no business at all other than selling the same scam to other people. According to the terms of the settlement, both defendants are banned from operating business opportunity projects in the future and are required to turn over cash and bank accounts.
Scam of the day – September 29, 2026 – The Danger of Homograph Attacks
Chances are you haven’t heard of the term, “homograph attack,” but it refers to a cyberthreat that can easily result in your becoming a victim of identity theft or a scam victim. A homograph attack is a type of cyber attack where attackers exploit look alike characters, often from different alphabets to create misleading domain names, usernames, or URLs that appear legitimate but actually lead to malicious sites. Homograph attacks have been around since the early 2000s, but have increased dramatically since 2020 when the federal government first warned about them. The attack starts with an email from what appears to be a legitimate source such as your bank informing you of an emergency requiring you to either click on a link or provide personal information.
Scam of the day – September 28, 2026 – Hurricane Charity Scams
Natural disasters such as hurricanes are common occurrences. Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean runs this year from June 1st until November 30th. Hurricanes often cause tremendous damage and loss of property. They also bring out the best in people who want to donate to charities to help the victims. Unfortunately natural disasters also bring out the worst in scammers who are quick to take advantage of the generosity of people by contacting them posing as charities, but instead of collecting funds to help the victims of these natural disasters, these scam artists steal the money for themselves under false pretenses. Making matters even worse, scammers will use information from data brokers and public sources to identify people who are likely to be susceptible to solicitations of donations to charities providing help to hurricane victims. Scammers also contact people through social media with pleas for charitable donations with the ads specifically targeting likely victims through the use of the algorithms used by social media. Often these social media posts will contain AI enhanced photos and videos and you can never be sure if the posts are legitimate.
Scam of the day – September 27, 2026 – Scammers Targeting Recent Widows and Widowers
Recently we have started seeing scammers utilizing AI to harvest obituaries for likely targets and then further use AI to gather even more detailed information about their targeted victims from social media and other sources to enable them to create believable scams that appear to be legitimate claims such as posing as creditors of the decedent or government officials seeking payments for a debt.
Scam of the day – September 26, 2026 – Geek Squad Phishing Email
According to the FTC, the company most impersonated by scammers with phishing emails containing fake bills or fake renewals is Geek Squad. Geek Squad is a subsidiary of big box store chain Best Buy and it offers excellent tech support for electronic devices including televisions and computers. Scammers have been sending phishing emails that appear to be Geek Squad invoices. Reproduced below is one of those imposter phishing emails presently circulating. It looked like a legitimate email from Geek Squad. This email is intended to get you to respond by calling the phone number contained in the email to dispute the bill. If you do call the number you will be prompted to provide personal information that would be used to make you a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – September 25, 2026 – Facebook Cloning Remains a Problem
This is nothing new. Facebook estimates that there are as many as 60 million phony cloned Facebook accounts including hundreds of its founder Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook tries to remove the cloned accounts when it becomes aware of them, but they consistently spring up again soon thereafter. You also should let your friends know that your account has been cloned and warn them not to accept any new friend requests from you. If you do find that someone has set up a Facebook account in your name, you should contact Facebook as soon as possible in order for Facebook to take action to cancel the phony cloned account. Here is a link you can use to report such a phony or cloned account. https://www.facebook.com/help/306643639690823?helpref=uf_permalink
Scam of the day – September 24, 2026 – Dual Factor Authentication Scam
Recently scammers have been sending text messages that appear to come from a company with which you do business informing you that there has been suspicious activity on your account and that you need to confirm your identity or else your account will be locked. You are then told that in order to do so, you will receive a text message with a code that you should, in turn, text back as a reply to the scammer. Unfortunately, what is actually happening is that the scammer has already managed to obtain your password and has just tried to log in to your account which is protected by dual factor authentication, so if you do send the code to the scammer, you will have defeated dual factor authentication and enabled the scammer to access your account.
Scam of the day – September 23, 2026 – Hotel Reservation Hijacking Scam
Scammers are using social engineering, which is just the fashionable way to say psychology, and contacting hotels and convincing the hotel IT workers to give access to their computer networks. Social engineering has been used effectively by cybercrime groups such as Shiny Hunters to gain access to the computer networks of many companies. While Shiny Hunters uses social engineering to gain access to their targeted companies to install ransomware, the scammers gaining access to hotel computer networks use the access to harvest information about legitimate upcoming hotel reservations of the hotel’s customers. They then pose as the hotel and contact the customers with requests for payments that may seem legitimate, particularly since the email may not only appear to come from the hotel, but provide details of the actual reservations of their customers.
Scam of the day – September 22, 2026 – Amazon Prime Day is Coming and so are the Scams
Amazon Prime Day is coming October 6th and 7th. Recently there has been an increase in the number of scams related to Amazon Prime which is not surprising since there are approximately 220 million Amazon Prime members. Scammers attempt to lure people into providing their credit card information or Amazon user name and password to the scammer posing as an Amazon employee. Typically, these scams start with an email, text message or phone call either informing the targeted victim that their membership needs to be renewed. In some instances the scammers indicate that the credit card tied to the account is no longer able to be used, threatening to suspend the Amazon Prime account unless a new credit card is provided.
Scam of the day – September 21, 2026 – FBI Announces 35 More Victims of Fake 49er Football Player
In the Scam of the day for August 30, 2026 I first told you about criminal charges being brought against Daejon Love who the FBI said posed as a San Francisco 49er football player while scamming 26 women through an investment scam with his co-conspirator Taylor Jamie Chan. At the time, the FBI indicated that they believed there were many more victims and now the FBI announced that they have identified 35 more women scammed by Love and Chan.
Scam of the day – September 20, 2026 – Pump and Dump Scams Continue to Snare Victims
Scammers have increased their use of AI to enhance their pump and dump scams with phony social media accounts and AI generated deepfake videos of celebrities and real SEC registered advisors to make their scams more attractive.
Scam of the day – September 19, 2026 – Scammers Posing as Airline Customer Service
Airline travel is not always pleasant and it is not unusual for flights to be delayed or cancelled. Delays and cancellations occur for a number of reasons including bad weather and air traffic control issues. Scammers capitalize on these delays and cancellations by posing as airline customer service representatives. 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 AI created phony airline websites where they are manipulated into providing personal information such as credit card information that can be used to make them victims of identity theft.
Scam of the day – September 18, 2026 – iPhone 18 Pro Scams
There is a lot of excitement about the release of the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple opened pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on September 12, 2026. As always, however, whenever the public is enthusiastic about something, so are the scam artists who are ready to exploit the public’s interest. Scammers have registered hundreds of phony Apple websites and other websites offering sales of the phones at significantly lower prices than Apple’s official starting price of $1,199. Some of these phony websites are also offering sales of the new folding iPhone Duo which will not even be available for pre-orders until October 16th. Anyone buying a phone from one of these phony websites will truly be getting a wrong number and lose the money they pay for a non-existent phone. Many of the bogus websites offering the phone require payment through wired funds, payment apps or cryptocurrencies rather than by credit cards which is a strong indication of a scam.
Scam of the day – September 17, 2026 – Deed Fraud Increasing
On July 23rd, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced charges against three men accused of participating in schemes involving vacant, unencumbered properties in Massachusetts, Georgia, Indiana, and Tennessee. Prosecutors alleged the defendants impersonated out-of-state property owners and deceived real estate professionals into selling properties to unsuspecting buyers.
Scam of the day – September 16, 2026 – Albuquerque Becomes the Latest Muncipality to Ban Crypto ATMs
Earlier this year, Massachusetts became the latest state to sue a crypto ATM operator, in this case Bitcoin Depot for enabling criminals to use their machines to scam people. According to the lawsuit, more than half of the money that went through Bitcoin Depot ATMs between August 2023 and January 2025 was related to scams. Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota have gone so far as to ban cryptocurrency ATMs. Now Albuquerque has become the latest municipality to ban cryptocurrency ATMs joining a number of other cities including Stillwater, Minnesota and Spokane Washington.
Scam of the day – September 15, 2026 – High School Sports Streaming Scams
We are early in the Fall high school sports season and more and more people are choosing to watch the games streaming online rather than attend the games in person. Streaming of high school sports increased dramatically during the pandemic and even now that the pandemic has ended, many people still enjoy watching the games streamed. Unfortunately, anything that many people enjoy will always be something that scammers take note of and scammers are going on social media posing as a streaming service and posting links through which people can sign up for streaming of their local high school’s games. People clicking on these links are prompted for personal information including their credit card to sign up for the service that they never receive. Instead all they end up doing is becoming victims of identity theft and credit card fraud.
Scam of the day – September 14, 2026 – Apartment Rental Scams Getting Worse
Scammers often go to Craigslist, Tik Tok and other similar sites to post their phony apartment listings. The scam usually starts with a listing that looks quite legitimate and there is a good reason for that. The listing is often a real on-line listing that has been copied by the scammer who merely puts in his or her name and contact information. The price is usually very low which attracts a lot of potential renters. The potential renters are sometimes told that the owner is out of the country and that there are many people interested in the property so if the tenant wants to be considered for renting it, the tenant has to wire money to the landlord somewhere outside of the country immediately. As I have warned you many times, wiring money is a scammer’s first choice because it is all but impossible to retrieve once you learn that you have been scammed. Too often, unwary potential tenants wire the money and never hear anything further from the scam landlord. As for the money, it is gone forever.
Scam of the day – September 13, 2026 – Celebrity Deepfake Scams Getting Worse
For years I have told you about scammers posing as various popular celebrities in ads and on social media luring people into making payments for worthless products. However, with the increased of Artificial Intelligence these phony ads and scams have become both more believable looking and more frequent as the deepfake and other AI technology becomes readily available to less technologically savvy scammers. Back in 2023 I told you about a scam where a deepfake image of Chef Gordon Ramsey was used to trick people into a scam involving Hexclad cookware. Videos also appeared on social media such as TikTok and Facebook that appeared to show Taylor Swift endorsing and giving away Le Crueset cookware. If you click on the link provided you are sent to counterfeit websites of popular cooking websites where you see further phony testimonials. You are then asked to provide credit or debit card information to cover the cost of the shipping of the free cookware. Unfortunately, just as there was no free Hexclad cookware being given away by Gordon Ramsay, there is no free Le Crueset cookware being given away by Taylor Swift and all you succeed in doing is giving your credit card or debit card information to a scammer.
Scam of the day – September 12, 2026 – MyChart Phishing Scams Increasing
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. Reproduced below is a copy of a phishing email that appears to come from MyChart. MyChart is an online platform that allows you to communicate with your health care provider about a wide range of matters including scheduling appointments and reviewing your prescriptions. MyChart recently issued a warning about a surge in MyChart phishing emails, text messages and phone calls.
Scam of the day – September 11, 2026 – Can Your Voice Mail Message Put You in Danger?
AI voice cloning is a simple and easily accomplished at little cost. Scammers clone voices of people they are targeting with a variety of scams including the grandparent or family emergency scam where the family member gets a phone call from someone posing as a family member dealing with an emergency needing immediate funds. This scam was bad enough in the past, but now with voice cloning technology, the voice you hear sounds exactly the same as the voice of the real person. Voice cloning is also used in fake kidnapping scams and even cloning someone’s voice that is used as authentication to access a bank account (a very bad idea despite what some banks tell you).
Scam of the day – September 10, 2026 – FTC Warns About Automobile Dealership Cloning
The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a warning about an increase in car dealer cloning. 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.
Scam of the day – September 9, 2026 – Disney Email Scam
The popularity of Disney makes it a preferred subject for phishing emails sent to people appearing to come from Disney in which you are told you need to update your credit card information or asking for other personal information. Reproduced below is a copy of an email recently received by a Scamicide reader. The email may look legitimate, but it is important to note that nowhere does your name or account number appear and it is sent from an email address that has nothing to do with Disney. The Disney logo appeared at the top of the email although not reproduced below, but it is easy to counterfeit the Disney logo and make the email appear to be legitimate when it is not.
Scam of the day – September 8, 2026 – Skimmers at Gas Pumps Continue to be a Problem
Skimmers at gas pumps continue to be a major problem. Skimmers are small electronic devices that are easily installed by an identity thief on gas pumps, ATMs and other card reading devices. The skimmer steals all of the information from old style magnetic strip credit card or debit cards which then enables the identity thief to use that information to access the victim’s credit card or bank account when the skimmer is used on a debit card. Each skimmer can hold information on as many as 2,400 cards. In November of 2025, the Department of Justice broke up a multi-state crime ring that installed skimmers inside gas pumps in ten states stealing data from thousands of cards.