Fraud & Scams
Financial fraud, phishing, identity theft, scam alerts, data breaches, and how to protect yourself and your accounts.
Latest in Fraud & Scams
Three men drew 33 to 39 months in federal prison in a scheme built on checks stolen from Postal Service collection boxes around St. Louis
Three men were sentenced in federal court on October 1 to between 33 and 39 months in prison for a bank fraud scheme built on...
The Federal Trade Commission warned September 28 about lookalike Medicare.gov sites
Ahead of Open Enrollment, scammers build lookalike versions of Medicare.gov and HealthCare.gov and sell plans that are not insurance, the Federal Trade Commission warned on...
The SEC charged two men over an $8.7 million fund it says targeted Navy veterans and medical professionals tied to a VA clinic
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges on September 30 against two men over what it describes as a fraud scheme that raised $8.7 million...
Social Security’s inspector general warned September 21 against paying anyone to raise a benefit
Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General warned on September 21 that operators are charging an upfront fee to boost, unlock or maximize a Social...
Navy Federal’s proposed settlement will cancel loans opened in members’ names by third parties and pay an extra $250 to members who claim by November 29
Navy Federal Credit Union has agreed, in a proposed settlement of Edey v. Navy Federal Credit Union, to cancel personal loans that the lawsuit says...
Unauthorized transfers unreported past 60 days fall outside the federal liability caps
Federal law gives bank customers a bounded loss on unauthorized electronic transfers, then removes the bound once a statement sits unreported for 60 days. Under...
Treasury sanctioned a network that made ATMs dispense cash without debiting accounts, part of $40.73 million in US losses
The Treasury Department sanctioned a financial network tied to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua on September 30, 2026, accusing it of draining U.S. bank...
The SEC says two men raised $8.7 million off veterans’ networks promising returns up to 153%
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on September 30 that it had charged two men, Christopher Kenji Dinelli and Jacob David “Kobe” Frankel, over a...
FINRA barred an LPL broker who moved $1,731,000 out of two customers’ accounts
FINRA announced on September 29 that Rudy Anguiano, a broker from Chino Hills, California, who was registered with LPL Financial LLC, has been barred from...
Vanguard’s new terms let it call a trusted contact when it suspects an older holder is being drained
Vanguard Brokerage Services began operating under a rewritten account agreement on October 1, 2026, and one of the new provisions addresses a problem that rarely...
Regulators say most people who joined two Amway groups after 2020 spent more than Amway paid them
The Federal Trade Commission said on September 17, 2026 that most independent business owners who joined two Amway-affiliated groups, World Wide Group and Leadership Team...
A man who spoofed U.S. Bank’s caller ID got 57 months and owes $270,000 to victims aged 72 and 80
Franco Fuentes, a 30-year-old from Woodland Hills, California, was sentenced on a federal bank-impostor case to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay more...
The SEC charged a money manager over funds promising access to SpaceX shares
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint on September 30, 2026, against money manager Meyer Global Management LLC and its CEO, Owen E.H....
A representative payee took $121,980 from her disabled uncle, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan allege that Laura Whisenant, appointed as representative payee for her elderly, mentally disabled uncle, stole and misused...
An Arizona benefits CEO admitted taking $8.8 million from workers’ health and 401(k) plans and spending it on big-game hunts, jewelry and gambling
James Vincent Campbell, the 49-year-old founder and CEO of a Scottsdale benefits processor, pleaded guilty on Sept. 29, 2026, to embezzling more than $8.8 million...
Prosecutors charged 17 people in a Social Security fraud sweep with an intended loss of $1.34 million
Between Aug. 21 and Sept. 18, 2026, prosecutors in 11 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices charged 17 people in a Social Security fraud sweep, and the Justice...
The FTC is weighing whether social media and search platforms should answer for scam ads, after $2.1 billion in losses to scams that started on social media
The Federal Trade Commission is weighing whether social media and search platforms should answer for scam ads, after reporting $2.1 billion in consumer losses in...
A Miami lab executive who took at least $35 million pleaded guilty in a $500 million fake COVID test billing scheme
Hasan “Lucas” Seyhun, the chief operating officer of Fast Lab Technologies, pleaded guilty September 23 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in a nationwide...
The FTC logged more than a million impostor-scam reports in 2025 and is weighing rules that would force platforms to vet advertisers
Consumers reported losing nearly $3.5 billion to scams that impersonated government agencies and businesses in 2025, across more than 1 million reports filed with the...
A Texas clinic owner convicted in a $26 million military health care fraud bought a gold-plated Cybertruck, prosecutors say
A federal jury convicted Kevin D. Curry, a 64-year-old mental health clinic owner from Frisco, Texas, on nine felony counts tied to a $26 million...