Fraud & Scams
Financial fraud, phishing, identity theft, scam alerts, data breaches, and how to protect yourself and your accounts.
Latest in Fraud & Scams
Oak View Group is paying up to $5,000 to people hit by a data breach, with a flat $50 and an August 15 deadline
People whose personal information was exposed in a late-2023 data breach at Oak View Group can claim up to $5,000 in compensation, along with a...
A text or call claiming you missed jury duty and owe a fine by gift card or Bitcoin is always a scam
Federal courts and law-enforcement agencies across the country are issuing fresh warnings about phone calls and text messages that claim recipients missed jury duty and...
A family code word can stop the AI voice-cloning scams that fake a grandchild’s emergency call
Criminals armed with cheap AI voice-cloning tools are calling grandparents, mimicking a loved one’s voice, and demanding emergency cash transfers. Two federal agencies, the FBI’s...
Flagstar Bank customers hit by a data breach can claim up to $25,000, with an August 11 deadline to file
More than 1.5 million people whose personal data was exposed in a Flagstar Bank network breach can now file claims worth up to $25,000 each,...
FMC customers can claim about $75, or up to $5,000 for losses, from a data breach by August 31
People affected by the FMC Services, LLC data breach that occurred on July 26, 2022, face a closing window to file claims for roughly $75...
A 70-year-old lost $84,000 to a fake McAfee security agent before police arrested the suspect mid-pickup
A 70-year-old Camarillo, California, resident lost $84,000 after someone posing as a McAfee security agent convinced the victim that hackers had compromised their bank accounts....
Scammers posing as Amazon and federal agents drained over $1 million from East Coast seniors, and three men are now under arrest
Three men are now in federal custody after allegedly draining more than $1 million from seniors in Virginia and Maryland through a scheme that paired...
A 76-year-old retired lawyer lost $740,000 in three months after scammers talked him into moving his savings to a “safe” account
A 76-year-old retired lawyer watched $740,000 drain from his accounts over three months after scammers convinced him to transfer his retirement savings into what they...
A 66-year-old wired $200,000 of his family’s savings to scammers who dangled a fake $7 million payout
A 66-year-old man sent $200,000 in family savings to scammers after they convinced him a $7 million prize was waiting for him. The scheme follows...
A phone-scam ring drained more than $5 million from 400 older Americans before agents shut it down
Thirteen people have been charged for running a phone-based “grandparent scam” that stole more than $5 million from over 400 older Americans, most of them...
A Florida woman lost $200,000 to scammers before police staged a sting to catch the courier at her door
A Florida woman handed over $200,000 in cash to scammers who contacted her through fraudulent calls and electronic messages before local police set up a...
Government impersonation scams drained nearly $798 million last year, and no real agency demands gift cards
Americans lost $789 million to government impersonation scams in 2024, part of a record $12.5 billion in total reported fraud losses that year. The Federal...
A free credit freeze at all three bureaus blocks new-account fraud
Any consumer in the United States can place a credit freeze at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion at no cost, blocking lenders from viewing the frozen...
The FTC is mailing $2.8 million in refunds to homeowners charged by a phony mortgage-relief operation
Nearly 1,821 homeowners who paid upfront fees to a fraudulent mortgage-relief operation are receiving refund checks from the Federal Trade Commission, with payments totaling more...
Comcast and Xfinity customers can claim cash and free identity protection from a $117.5 million breach settlement by September 14
Roughly 35 million current and former Xfinity customers whose personal data was exposed in a 2023 breach now have two months left to file claims...
12,400 older Americans each lost at least $100,000 to scams last year, and a few habits guard your savings
At least 12,400 Americans age 60 and older each reported losing $100,000 or more to fraud schemes last year, with average individual losses topping $38,000...
Gold-courier scams drained $262 million from Americans as senior fraud losses hit $7.7 billion
Older Americans lost roughly $7.7 billion to cyber-enabled fraud last year, and a fast-growing slice of that total came from a single, brazen tactic: imposters...
AI voice-cloning scams cost victims $893 million, and seniors lost $352 million of it
Older Americans lost $352 million to AI-driven fraud schemes last year, accounting for a large share of the nearly $893 million in total losses tied...
The FBI is warning older savers about a “phantom hacker” scam that talks them into moving money to a “safe” account
Older Americans with retirement savings are losing everything to a fraud scheme the FBI calls the “phantom hacker” scam, a three-stage con in which criminals...
Three men are charged in a scheme that talked Virginia seniors into handing savings to a courier for fake “government verification”
Three men now face federal charges for allegedly convincing elderly Virginia residents to hand over their life savings to a courier who claimed the cash...