Fraud & Scams
Financial fraud, phishing, identity theft, scam alerts, data breaches, and how to protect yourself and your accounts.
Latest in Fraud & Scams
Medicare warns of a “new card” scam demanding your number before benefits switch
A caller says a new Medicare card is on the way, then explains that benefits cannot switch over until the recipient reads back the number...
Locking your my Social Security account blocks a deposit-hijack scammer in about two minutes
The Social Security Administration lets account holders freeze the electronic side of their record in about the time it takes to read a benefit letter,...
Social Security will no longer switch your direct deposit over the phone, a fraud block you clear online or in person
The Social Security Administration has closed one of the oldest routes that thieves used to steal retirement checks: a beneficiary can no longer redirect a...
Splitting cash deposits to avoid the $10,000 report can trigger a suspicious-activity filing
The legal problem with a series of cash deposits is not that each falls below $10,000. It is the purpose behind dividing them. When transactions...
Report a stolen debit card within two business days and federal law caps liability at $50
A stolen debit card creates a deadline measured from discovery, not from the day a monthly statement arrives. Federal electronic-transfer rules limit a consumer’s liability...
Four scammers admitted stealing over $5 million from 400 seniors through fake family emergencies
Four men have pleaded guilty in a transnational grandparent-scam operation that federal prosecutors say stripped more than $5 million from more than 400 older Americans....
AI voice-cloning “grandchild in trouble” calls are rising, and a family code word can stop them
A phone rings, and on the line is the unmistakable voice of a grandchild, panicked and crying, saying they have been in an accident or...
A new Georgia law lets banks freeze a suspected scam transfer for up to 15 days to protect people over 65
When an older customer walks into a bank insisting on wiring their life savings to a stranger, a teller who senses a scam has long...
Medicare warns of a “new card” scam and says it isn’t issuing new cards this year
The pitch sounds official and even helpful: a caller says Medicare is sending out a new card, and all the recipient needs to do is...
Crypto-ATM and QR-code scams drained $333 million last year, and people over 60 lost most of it
Bitcoin ATMs were pitched as a convenience for buying digital currency at a gas station or grocery store, but they have become the collection plate...
The FTC is mailing more than 1 million refund checks to customers of the Brigit cash-advance app
More than a million former customers of the Brigit cash-advance app are receiving refund checks this summer, the latest payout from a Federal Trade Commission...
Freeze your credit for free to block identity thieves from opening accounts in your name
A credit freeze is the strongest free tool an American has to stop identity thieves from opening new accounts, and federal law has made it...
Scammers can hijack your phone number in a “port-out” fraud to intercept your bank codes
A stolen phone number has quietly become one of the fastest routes into an older American’s bank account. In a port-out scam, a criminal poses...
Social Security “verification” texts warning your benefits will stop are 2026’s fastest-growing scam
A text message claiming a retiree must “verify” their information or watch their Social Security benefits stop has become one of 2026’s most aggressive impersonation...
A South Dakota retiree wired more than $200,000 to scammers posing as his bank and the FDIC
An elderly Sioux Falls resident lost more than $200,000 over roughly a month this summer after scammers posing as computer-support staff, the victim’s bank, and...
The FBI warns a three-phase “Phantom Hacker” scam is draining seniors’ entire retirement savings
The FBI is warning that a scam it calls the “Phantom Hacker” is wiping out older Americans’ entire retirement and savings accounts by layering three...
A romance-scam ringleader got seven years for helping steal more than $100 million from older Americans looking for love
A Ghanaian man who spent years posing as online suitors to drain money from lonely Americans was sentenced on July 28, 2026, to 85 months...
A KYB Americas data-breach settlement pays up to $5,000 with documentation, or a flat $75 without, for claims by August 26.
A class-action settlement with automotive-parts manufacturer KYB Americas is paying affected people up to $5,000 with documentation, or an estimated $75 flat payment with none,...
A Wisconsin man was sentenced to prison for draining $135,000 from an elderly woman in a drawn-out scam.
A 38-year-old man who served as the in-person cash collector in a scheme that stripped $135,000 from an elderly Wisconsin woman has been sentenced to...
McKenzie Memorial Hospital patients hit by a cyberattack can claim up to $4,000, or a flat $50, by August 24.
Patients swept into the McKenzie Health System data breach can now choose between a flat $50 payment with no paperwork or reimbursement of up to...