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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.
Scam of the day – August 27, 2026 – FTC Warns About Law Firm Inheritance Letter Scam
The Federal Trade Commission is warning people about a scam which begins when you get a letter from a law firm informing you that they are probating an estate in which they have not been able to locate an heir, however, they then inform you that you are the heir to the million dollar estate. The letter then offers to split the value of the estate with you, some charities and their law firm. If you respond to the letter, you will be asked to provide personal and financial information including your Social Security number and to pay a fee. If this sounds vaguely familiar it is because it is just a variation of the Nigerian email scam that continues to plague the online community.
Scam of the day – August 26, 2026 – Texas Sheriff Warns About Used Car VIN Cloning
Recently, the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office in Texas issued a warning about organized criminal gangs including some linked to the Sinaloa cartel were stealing cars, and cloning VIN numbers to make the cars they then sold on social media appear legitimate.
Scam of the day – August 25, 2025 – Why You Should Keep Your Cell Phone Number Private
When a criminal knows your cell phone number, he or she can leverage that number through commonly available legal databases such as White Pages Premium and learn information such as your current address, past addresses, the names of your family members and more. Many services allow password resets through text messages enabling criminals to spoof your number and reset passwords to many of your accounts. The criminal can also use the number to gain access to your social media accounts and can most significantly use the information gained to answer security questions that would allow the criminal to do a SIM swap whereby your cell phone number would be transferred to a phone of the criminal and thereby defeat dual factor authentication where you get a text message or a code sent to your phone when you go to access your bank account online or any other account that requires significant security.
Scam of the day – August 24, 2026 – FBI Warns About Cryptocurrency Recovery Scams
In recent years, I have written many times about the myriad of cryptocurrency scams that have cost people billions of dollars. According to the FBI, Americans lost more than 11.36 billion dollars to cryptocurrency investment scams in 2025 which represents a 22% increase from 2024.. 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. According to the FBI, scammers, posing as 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 a substantial 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 – August 23, 2026 – Hacking Your Computer Through Your Smoke Detector
Cybercriminals hack into your devices that are a part of the Internet of Things to enable them to enlist your devices as a part of a botnet by which they can distribute malware while maintaining their anonymity. They also can hack into your Internet of Things devices to access your home computers or cell phones to steal information for purposes of identity theft or to implant malware on your home computers and cell phones. Any device you have in your home that is connected to the Internet poses a threat. One device that people hardly give any thought to is your smoke detector. Newer, sophisticated smoke detectors have the capability to send data to your phone or the manufacturer which they do through your router and this make them vulnerable to being hacked.
Scam of the day – August 22, 2026 – Amazon and Apple Unauthorized Charge Scam
Scammers are creating popup warnings that appear when you are browsing on a search engine such as Google Chrome that appears to be an official notification from Amazon or Apple that your account was just charged for a $149.99 purchase and providing a phone number to call if you did not make the charge. Interestingly, although the scammers use separate popups for purported unauthorized purchases from Amazon and Apple, the phone number to call for Amazon support and Apple support is the same phone number. If you call the number provided you will be prompted to provide personal account and credit card information that will lead to identity theft.
Scam of the day – August 21, 2026 – Do You Need Property Title Theft Insurance?
Deed fraud, which is also referred to as “property title theft” occurs when a criminal files a counterfeit deed to property owned by someone else and then either lives in the property or even sells the property to an unwary buyer. Deed fraud most commonly occurs after a homeowner dies. Enterprising criminals monitor the obituaries looking for homes owned by people recently deceased and then forge a deed to the property and record it in the local Registry of Deeds.
Scam of the day – August 20, 2026 – Chase Credit Card Scam
Today’s scam of the day comes from a Scamicide subscriber who received a phone call from a scammer posing as a Chase bank employee working in its fraud department. The scammer told the targeted victim that someone had used her credit card in another city. The scammer then asked for information about her Chase accounts. She was then passed on to a “supervisor” who told her that the bank needed to examine the magnetic stripes on her credit cards and told her that a courier would come to pick up her card so that they could be examined. The Scamicide subscriber then asked the scammer if she called Chase’s fraud department would they confirm the two scammers worked for the bank. The scammer responded that they would not because he worked for FDIC. This contradiction of what she was told convinced the Scamicide subscriber that they were scammers and she hung up the phone.
Scam of the day – August 19, 2026 – NY Attorney General Warns About Gold Bar Scams
Recently New York Attorney General Letitia James warned consumers about gold bar scams which primarily have targeted older Americans in which under a variety of excuses scammers posing as law enforcement convince their targeted victims that their savings are in jeopardy and that in order to protect their funds, they must withdraw them from their bank accounts, purchase gold bars and then turn them over to other scammers posing as legitimate law enforcement personnel for temporary safekeeping.
Scam of the day – August 18, 2026 – Odyssey and Spiderman Streaming Scams
The recent blockbuster movie “The Odyssey” is attracting record crowds back to movie theaters as is the new Spiderman movie, “Spiderman – Brand New Day.” Both of these movies are only available in theaters and not at any legitimate streaming service. However, this never stops scammers from taking advantage of the demand for the movie and offering phony pirate streaming websites promising access to the movie. There are two versions of scams related to viewing these movies on pirate websites. In one version of the scam, a fake browser warning appears claiming your browser is missing a required component. If you click on the “Fit It Now” tab, you end up downloading harmful malware. The other version of the occurs when you try to download the movie, but instead only manage to download malware directly.
Scam of the day – August 17, 2026 – Hawaii Hurricane and Indiana Flood Charity Scams
Natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes are common occurrences. The devastating floods recently in Indiana and the intense hurricane in Hawaii have caused serious damage, loss of property and life in those states. It has also displaced many people whose homes were ruined. Natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and earthquakes 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.
Scam of the day – August 16, 2026 – Zoll Medical Data Breach Class Action Settlement
Zoll Medical Corp. is a medical technology company that provides emergency care solutions including critical care devices. In January of 2023 it suffered a data breach that compromised sensitive information of its customers. following which, as is now often the case a class action was filed by victims of the data breach in which they alleged that Zoll had failed to implement reasonable security measures to protect their data. A settlement has been reached in the Zoll agrees to pay $3.5 million to class members. Eligible members of the class can receive up to $5,000 for out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of the data breach. Class members can also receive payments of $100 if their Social Security number was compromised while class members whose Social Security numbers were not compromised are eligible to receive a payment of $50.
Scam of the day – August 15, 2026 – Amazon Recall Scam
Whatever is popular with the public is popular with scammers which is why it is not surprising that scammers are sending out text messages that appear to come from Amazon informing their targeted victims that there is a recall of a product that the targeted victim purchased through Amazon Prime. The text message looks legitimate and may even appear to come from a legitimate Amazon telephone number, but it is a simple matter for a scammer to “spoof” a legitimate number to make it appear that the call is originating from Amazon while actually coming from the scammer. The bogus text message informing you of the product recall provides a link that will take you to what appears to be the Amazon website and prompts you to provide your account information and your password. Using AI it is simple for a scammer to create a very legitimate appearing counterfeit Amazon website.
Scam of the day – August 14, 2026 – New Variation on Sextortion Scam
In a recent version of this scam, people around the country are receiving such sextortion emails with some new twists. First, the email contains a photograph of your home with a threat to contact you at your home, referring to your home’s address if you don’t pay the demanded Bitcoin ransom. Second, the email refers to a type of Spyware called Pegasus that can steal information from you computer without being discovered. In fact, Pegasus spyware does exist, but it is used only by government agencies.
Scam of the day – August 13, 2026 – 15 Million Patients Affected by Biggest Healthcare Data Breach of 2026
DentaQuest, the second largest dental insurance company in the country suffered a data breach in May that was only confirmed in July when the company sent notices to the 15 million of its customers affected by the data breach which appears to have been done by the ransomware gang ShinyHunters. Among the stolen information was names, addresses and other personal information, most notably Social Security numbers which can be used for criminals for purposes of identity theft. In its notice to affected patients the company offered free identity theft protection services and credit monitoring. For more information, you can call DentaQuest at 844-959-7163
Scam of the day – August 12, 2026 – Google Forms Scams
Google Forms is a terrific free tool that lets you create surveys, quizzes and forms for gathering data. It is widely used in education, business and in people’s personal affairs. It is easy to use, accessible through a shareable link and secure. Unfortunately, however, scammers take advantage of its acceptance as a legitimate tool to use it to perpetrate a variety of scams including scams by which it is used to create fake login pages that appear to be those of banks or colleges as well as to create phony surveys with promises of prizes in exchange for providing personal data. Scams using Google Forms increased by 63% last year and appear to be happening with even more frequency in 2025. Scams using Google Forms are sent through Google’s own mail servers so they can avoid email security filters making them appear more legitimate. Unfortunately, if you provide the asked for personal information, you set yourself up to become a victim of identity theft.
Scam of the day – August 11, 2026 – Elderly Navy Veteran Loses $100,000 to Lottery Scam
Eighty-one year old Navy veteran Riley Williams who has both Parkinson’s disease and dementia received a call from a scammer seven months ago telling him that he had won a lottery he had not entered, but he needed to pay taxes and fees before he could collect his winnings. For seven months the scammers convinced him time and time again to pay these phony fees and taxes by way of gift cards before he became aware that he had been scammed. Ultimately he lost $100,000.
Scam of the day – August 10, 2026 – USAA Customer Loses $15,000 to Imposter Scam
Imposter scams where the scammers pose as a government employee, such as with the IRS or a company with which you do business such as your bank are unfortunately often very successful in stealing your money. They generally convince you that there is an emergency that requires you to pay them money directly or, as is often the case, send money to designated accounts that you are told would be held for you to protect your funds. Recently Arsiln Chaudhry, a 21 years customer of USAA took a phone call that his Caller ID indicated was from USAA’s customer service department, however, the truth is that the call was from a scammer using a simple technique called “spoofing” to manipulate Chaudhry’s Caller ID to make the call appear to come from USAA. The scammer, posing as a bank employee told Chaudhry that someone was attempting to take $8,500 from his account and told him that he needed to transfer the money from his account to another account provided by the bank in order to protect his funds. Unfortunately, Chaudhry moved $15,000 before recognizing that he had been scammed.
Scam of the day – August 9, 2026 – OPM Data Breach Update
Now people who enrolled in the free coverage when first offered are receiving notices that their free credit monitoring services will be terminating in September and Senators Mark Warner and Eleanor Holmes Norton have introduced legislation which, if passed will extend the identity protection services for the lifetimes of those affected by the data breach. According to Warner, “We have a responsibility to stand by the federal workers who were put at risk through no fault of their own. This legislation will ensure those affected continue to receive the identity protection they need, while helping better safeguard personal information from future exploitation.”
Scam of the day – August 8, 2026 – Student Loan Scams Increasing
Now, after a five year pause during the pandemic on penalizing student loan borrowers for not making payments, in January of 2025, the Department of Education instructed loan servicers to start reporting late payers to credit bureaus which is resulting in millions of student loan borrowers having their important credit scores drop dramatically. Then in May of 2025, the Department of Education restarted collections on defaulted student loans after a pause commenced in 2020. This has resulted in scammers increasing their efforts regarding phony student loan scams. Government figures indicate that two thirds of student loan borrowers are late or behind in their payments and this presents a dire situation to which scammers can be expected to respond by offering phony debt relief to desperate borrowers.
Scam of the day – August 7, 2026 – Florida Sheriff 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 the Broward County, Florida Sheriff’s Office issued a warning about jury duty scams after an incident in which a local resident was contacted by a scammer posing as a court official telling the targeted victim that they had missed federal jury duty and an arrest warrant had been issued. The targeted victim was then told to deposit $15,000 into a cryptocurrency ATM as bail to avoid being arrested.
Scam of the day – August 6, 2026 – Scammers Posing as Popular Car Parking App
Paying for a parking spot using an app on your phone has become very popular. Apps such as ParkMobile and PayByPhone are particularly popular in the United States. RingGo is a popular parking app in the UK although it is not available for use in the United States. Recently people in the UK have been receiving text messages from scammer posing as RingGo indicating that a billing review or routine review found a bill for outstanding parking. The text message goes on to direct the targeted scam victim to click on a link that takes them to a phony RingGo website where they are prompted to provide their user name, password and credit card details to pay the phony outstanding parking charge. Of course, anyone doing so will end up providing their credit card information to a scammer.
Scam of the Day – August 5, 2026 – Justice Department Taking Action Against Money Mules
Laundering money derived from a scam is an essential element of many scams. Scammers can be extremely clever at distancing themselves from their scams in order to avoid detection. The people they enlist either as willing or unknowing participants in the laundering of the proceeds of a scam are called money mules. Scams in which innocent people are lured into being unknowing money mules are numerous. One of the more common of these involves work at home scams where your job is to receive goods, often electronics that have been shipped to you, inspect them and then reship them to an address provided to you by your new employer.