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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.
Scam of the day – September 7, 2026 – Scammers Hacking Computers Through Fake CAPTCHA Tests
We are all familiar with CAPTCHA tests which appear on many websites that we use and are intended to confirm that you are not a robot, but a real person. CAPTCHA is an acronym for “completely automated public Turing Test to tell computers and humans apart.” The name Turing refers to early British computer scientist Alan Turing. CAPTCHA tests generally take the form of having to recognize scrambled letters or numbers or to recognize patterns in a number of photographs such as which photographs have traffic lights. People are familiar with CAPTCHA tests and although many people find them mildly annoying, people trust them and there is the problem. Scammer are setting up legitimate appearing websites with fake CAPTCHA tests, but instead of clicking on images in boxes or typing in scrambled letters you are instructed to press Windows +R and then press Ctrl + V and Press Enter. However if you do so, you will have instructed your computer to open a hidden Run window on your computer and download malware without doing anything further. This malware will steal your passwords and other sensitive data from your computer and lead to identity theft.
Scam of the day – September 6, 2026 – Veterans Savings Program Scam
A recent study by the VA found that scammers contacted 39% of all veterans and more than 25% were scammed out of more than $500. Each year veterans and military families are scammed out of hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the FTC veterans and military families lost $685 million in 2025. With so many scams online, it is unusual that the newest scam targeted veterans is done through an old school postcard. The post card informs the targeted scam victim that he or she may qualify for additional monthly veterans benefits through the “Veterans Savings Program.” The postcard provides a phone number to call where the scammers lure the unsuspecting veteran to provide personal information such as their Social Security number or bank account information that will lead to identity theft.
Scam of the day – September 5, 2026 – LA County Warns About Jury Duty Scams
I have been warning you about the jury duty scam for thirteen years, but it continues to snare many unwary victims. Recently Los Angeles County court officials issued a warning about scammers posing as court officials calling their targeted victims threatening arrest for failing to appear for jury duty.
Scam of the day – September 4, 2026 – Timeshare Resale Scams: How Mexican Cartels Target Owners
But now, as I often say, “things aren’t as bad as you think, they are far worse” because the Mexican drug cartels Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa Cartel have gotten in the timeshare resale scam business. According to federal officials, they have scammed Americans and Canadians owning timeshares in Mexico whom they call by phone offering to sell their timeshare out of hundreds of millions of dollars over the last ten years. Most often they target elderly timeshare owners. Making the matter even worse, after the cartel scammers have scammed their victims out of money for sales that never occur, the scammers contact their victims posing as government agents who have become aware of the scams and offer to help get their money back. Of course, before doing so they require a payment which just adds to the losses of the scam victims.
Scam of the day – September 3, 2026 – FCC Issues Warning About Imposter Scam
Recently the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a warning about an imposter scam that starts with a phone call or text message from scammers posing as FCC commissioners or employees in which they tell the targeted victim that their phone number is under...
Scam of the day – September 2, 2026 – Real Estate Closing Scam
The scam targets people involved in the purchase and sales of residential real estate. The scam begins with the hacking into the email accounts of any of the various people involved in the sale. This can be either the buyer, seller, lawyers, title company, real estate agent or mortgage banker. Unfortunately, hacking into email accounts is a relatively easy thing for a skilled identity thief to do. The hackers then monitor the communications regarding the progress of the sale of a particular piece of real estate and when the time is right, generally posing as one of the lawyers, title company or bank mortgage officer, the scammer will email the buyer, telling him or her that funds necessary to complete the sale need to be wired to the phony lawyer’s, title company’s or banker’s account provided in the email. Everything appears normal so unsuspecting buyers too often are wiring the money to the cyberthieves who then launder the money by moving the funds from account to account to make it difficult to trace the funds.
Scam of the day – September 1, 2026 – Dolly Parton Charity Scams
The recent death of country music icon Dolly Parton has brought an outpouring of emotions and grief from her legions of fans who admired not only her music and acting, but also her extensive charitable endeavors including the Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library. Unfortunately, scammers, as they always do, are taking advantage of anything that holds the interest of the public and are targeting Dolly Parton’s fans and admirers with a variety of scams including appeals for charitable organizations that appear to be affiliated with her. Using AI, scammers are able to send emails, text messages and social media posts that appear to come from the legitimate charities and may contain links that take you to sites that also appear to be legitimate, but are merely AI created copies of her real charity websites.
Scam of the day – August 31, 2026 – Back to School Shopping Scams
The new school year is just around the corner and school shopping is in high gear for many parents and students. Much of back to school shopping, like other shopping, is done online and people are constantly looking for bargains from trusted companies such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Scammers are constantly setting up phony retail websites. Some of these phony websites are for totally made up companies that you have never heard of, but which are offering tremendous discounts on popular goods while other phony websites are counterfeit websites of legitimate online retailers. Unfortunately, it is very easy for scammers using AI to construct phony websites with legitimate appearing logos of companies you trust. In 2024 the cybersecurity software company Trend Micro announced that it had found more than 205,000 phony websites touting back to school sales.
Scam of the day – August 30, 2026 – Charges Brought in Unusual Romance-Investment Scam
Daejon Love and Taylor Jamie Chan were recently arrested and charged with operating an unusual version of a romance-investment scam in which they are alleged to have stolen $1.3 million from 26 women in California, Idaho, Washington and Oregon and the FBI believes that the true number of people scammed by them is much higher. Romance scams used to follow the pattern of scammers meeting people online and pretending to quickly fall deeply in love with them and then convince their victims to send the scammers money for various fake emergencies. The scam has evolved, however to where now the scammers still feign love, but instead of asking for a gift of money, they tell their victims that they have a great investment that is making the scammer massive amounts of money and they want to offer that investment to their targeted victim. Of course, there is no investment and the victims lose everything they “invested” with their new found love.
Scam of the day – August 29, 2026 – Vacation Photos Lead to Identity Theft
Phony text messaging, called smishing, which purport to be from your credit card company is a scam about which I have been warning you for years, but is a scam that has dramatically increased recently due to AI. Scammers are harvesting vacation photos from social media and using AI to analyze the photos even if there was no attached metadata to identify where the photo was taken or directly indicated in your social media. They then send text messages to their targeted victims posing as the victims’ credit card company informing them that unusual activity was detected while they were traveling to wherever they actually were. Having the name of the city or country where the targeted victim was traveling included in the text message makes it much more believable. They then provide either a phone number or a link that will take you to an AI created counterfeit website of the credit card company where you will be prompted to provide credit card information that will lead to identity theft.
Scam of the day – August 28, 2026 – FTC Settles Investment Training Scam Lawsuit Against IM Mastery Academy
In 2025, the FTC and the state of Nevada filed a civil lawsuit against IM Mastery Academy and its principals in which they accused them of operating a deceptive investment training and multi-level marketing scheme that scammed consumers of more than $1.2 billion. IM Mastery Academy lured its victims through misleading marketing on social media including Instagram, YouTube and TikTok that featured false and deceptive income claims and the depiction of luxury lifestyles. At the heart of the scam were subscriptions to foreign currency trading tools and educational content, however, the real profits came from recruiting new members into the scam rather than successful foreign currency trading. The overwhelming majority of participants lost money or earned little through their participation in the program.