Fraud & Scams
Financial fraud, phishing, identity theft, scam alerts, data breaches, and how to protect yourself and your accounts.
Latest in Fraud & Scams
Scammers copy the codes off store gift cards before you buy them, so check the packaging first
Thieves are tampering with gift cards hanging on retail store racks, copying the card numbers and PINs, then waiting for an unsuspecting buyer to load...
Report an unauthorized debit-card charge within 60 days and your bank must put the money back
Anyone who has watched a mysterious charge drain their checking account knows the panic that follows. Federal law sets a hard deadline: consumers who notify...
A free credit freeze at all three bureaus blocks crooks from opening new loans in your name
Anyone whose personal data has been exposed in a breach can now lock down all three credit bureaus at no cost, stopping thieves from taking...
Thriveworks therapy patients can file a $10 claim over a data breach before July 21
Patients who received therapy through Thriveworks face a tight deadline to file a claim for a fixed payout tied to allegations that the company shared...
The FTC is mailing $3 million in refund checks to 1,821 homeowners caught in a mortgage-relief scam
The Federal Trade Commission is sending refund checks to 1,821 homeowners who lost money to a mortgage-relief operation that falsely promised government-backed help. The payments...
Krispy Kreme will pay data-breach victims $75, or up to $3,500 with proof, if they file by June 22
Krispy Kreme customers whose personal data was exposed in a late-2024 cyber incident face a tight deadline to file claims for payments of $75 without...
Lakeview Loan Servicing will pay home borrowers up to $5,000 over a 2021 data breach, with claims due June 22
Borrowers whose mortgage data was exposed in a 2021 breach at Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC face a June 22 deadline to file claims worth up...
A Chinese national was sentenced to 12 years for a $27 million scam that targeted U.S. seniors
Zhao Wang, a Chinese national who orchestrated a $27 million fraud and money laundering operation targeting approximately 2,000 older Americans, was sentenced to 151 months...
The FBI’s “phantom hacker” scam uses three fake callers: tech support, then your bank, then the government
Older adults across the United States are losing entire retirement accounts to a scam that deploys not one, but three successive impersonators, each building on...
Americans over 60 lost a record $7.7 billion to scammers last year
Americans over 60 lost approximately $7.7 billion to fraud in 2024, the highest annual total ever recorded for that age group. The FBI logged more...
A Minnesota man drained $1.6 million from an elderly neighbor with dementia and got four years
A Minnesota man who systematically drained $1.6 million from an elderly neighbor living with dementia received a four-year federal prison sentence, a punishment that has...
A retiree handed $25,000 in cash to a fake police officer after scammers gave him a secret code phrase
An 80-year-old retiree in Irvine, California, withdrew $25,000 from his bank, packed the bills into a shoebox wrapped in duct tape, and handed the package...
No real agency will ever tell you to pull out cash and hand it to an “officer” for safekeeping
Scammers posing as federal agents are convincing Americans to withdraw cash, buy gold bars, and hand the assets to couriers who claim to be keeping...
A Washington man stole more than $500,000 from his grandmother, who has dementia
A Washington state man drained more than $500,000 from his grandmother’s accounts while she suffered from dementia, according to criminal filings in King County Superior...
No real government agency will ever tell you to move your money into a Bitcoin ATM
A retiree lost an entire lifetime of savings after scammers posing as government and bank employees directed cash deposits into Bitcoin ATMs and bulk gold...
$333 million vanished into Bitcoin ATMs last year, mostly seniors’ savings
Older Americans lost hundreds of millions of dollars through cryptocurrency kiosks last year, fed by a scam playbook that turns corner-store Bitcoin ATMs into one-way...
A retired teacher lost $16,000 to a fake Social Security agent who sent her to a Bitcoin ATM
A retired teacher lost $16,000 after a caller claiming to be a Social Security agent told her that her benefits would be suspended unless she...
A family code word can stop AI voice-cloning scams that fake a grandchild’s emergency call
Americans lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, and a growing share of those losses trace back to a simple trick: a phone call...
Check washing is surging again, and thieves who fish checks from the mail can rewrite the payee, so pay bills online or use gel-ink pens
Thieves armed with household chemicals and homemade fishing tools are stealing checks straight from U.S. mailboxes, erasing the original payee and dollar amount, and rewriting...
Fidelity will pay data-breach victims up to $5,000, with claims due July 27
Fidelity Investments is preparing to pay eligible data-breach victims up to $5,000 each, with a claims deadline of July 27 fast approaching. The breach itself...