Fraud & Scams
Financial fraud, phishing, identity theft, scam alerts, data breaches, and how to protect yourself and your accounts.
Latest in Fraud & Scams
Older Americans handed $333 million to scammers through Bitcoin ATMs last year — Indiana became the first state to ban the machines outright on March 9
The scam almost always follows the same script. A phone rings. The caller claims to be from the IRS, a bank’s fraud department, or a...
AT&T’s $177 million data breach settlement is finally distributing this spring — anyone who filed before December 18 gets up to $7,500, no extra paperwork required
Roughly 18 months after AT&T admitted that hackers had stolen call and text records belonging to nearly all of its cellular customers, the company’s $177...
Pennsylvania State Education Association members can claim up to $5,000 from a $2.5 million data breach settlement — but every form must be in by July 6
If you are a current or former member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, your Social Security number, bank details, and other sensitive records may...
A 2024 data breach at American International College pays affected students for documented losses — eligible class members have until July 22 to file a claim
Students and staff at American International College who had personal information exposed in a 2024 data breach are now eligible to file claims for financial...
Imposter calls posing as your utility company spiked 30% this spring — a real utility never demands a prepaid card, gift card, or crypto over the phone
The call comes on a Tuesday afternoon. Your caller ID shows the name of your electric company. A recorded voice warns that your power will...
Patients of Southern Illinois Healthcare can claim $17.50 cash plus credit monitoring from a tracking-pixel breach settlement — but the claim window closes June 15
Southern Illinois Healthcare embedded invisible tracking code on its patient-facing websites, and that code may have quietly funneled browsing activity to third-party advertising platforms. That...
Marriott is paying $52 million for the breach that exposed 131 million guest records — and not a cent goes to the consumers, only to state attorneys general
For roughly four years, hackers had free rein inside the Starwood guest reservation system, quietly siphoning passport numbers, payment card details, birth dates, and contact...
Retiree Ron Williams got one wrong-number text from a stranger — eight months later, an AI-coached fake investment app had drained $1.6 million from his savings
Ron Williams was not looking for an investment opportunity. He was a retiree, settled into the kind of quiet routine that follows decades of work,...
Avis is paying up to $5,000 to anyone whose driver’s license or credit card data was stolen in its 2024 breach — but claims must be filed by June 21
If you rented a car from Avis last summer, your driver’s license number and credit card information may have been stolen by hackers. Now, affected...
Send paychecks into a secondary checking account and sweep the money to your main one — if a scammer reroutes a single direct deposit, your bills are still safe
One redirected paycheck is all it takes. A scammer phishes an employee’s login credentials, slips into the company’s self-service payroll portal, swaps the direct-deposit routing...
Tinder charged California users over 29 more for the same app — now it’s refunding $60.5 million, up to $150 a person, with claims due August 18
If you’re over 29 and paid for Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold in California, you probably got charged more than younger users for the exact...
Billions in scam-refund checks the FTC mailed out were never cashed — see if your name is on the unclaimed list at ftc.gov/refunds
Somewhere in a landfill, a shredder bin, or a junk-mail pile, there is almost certainly a government check with someone’s name on it. According to...
Ask your bank to add a verbal password to your account — it stops a scammer who has your details from talking their way past phone support
Picture this: someone calls your bank, recites your full name, your address, and the last four digits of your Social Security number. The customer service...
Fake debt collectors are pressuring people to pay debts they don’t owe — demand written validation, which real collectors must send within five days
The call comes out of nowhere. Someone on the line says you owe $1,200 on an old account, rattles off a case number, and warns...
A 78-year-old Texas retiree was told his bank was hacked — so he turned $2 million in savings into gold bars and handed them to a courier at his door
The caller told him his bank had been breached. Hackers, the voice on the line explained, had already accessed his accounts. If he wanted to...
See every piece of mail before it arrives with free USPS Informed Delivery — it flags stolen checks and new-card envelopes before a thief beats you to them
In late 2023, a Cincinnati letter carrier was walking her route when 19-year-old Lamarion Gray put a gun to her and stole her master mailbox...
Never pay a “finder” a cut to recover money the government already holds for you — every official unclaimed-property search is free
A retired teacher in Sacramento discovers $4,200 from a forgotten pension rollover. A Brooklyn family finds a $900 insurance payout their late father never cashed....
Freeze your child’s credit before a thief does — a minor’s clean Social Security number is a scammer’s favorite, and the freeze is free
A 19-year-old sits down to apply for her first student loan and discovers $14,000 in collections she never opened. A father, acting on a hunch,...
Scammers drain gift cards before you spend them by copying the codes on store racks — buy from behind the counter and check the packaging
A Michigan couple allegedly walked into Meijer stores across Metro Detroit, pulled gift cards off the racks, peeled back the protective stickers, copied the PINs,...
You can stop the preapproved credit offers scammers steal from mailboxes — opting out at OptOutPrescreen is free and cuts your identity-theft risk
A preapproved credit card offer sitting in an unlocked mailbox looks like junk mail to the person who lives there. To a thief walking the...