Fraud & Scams
Financial fraud, phishing, identity theft, scam alerts, data breaches, and how to protect yourself and your accounts.
Latest in Fraud & Scams
A Mexican cartel scammed more than 6,000 older Americans out of $400 million in a timeshare scheme, and five bosses now face U.S. charges
Federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against five senior leaders of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel, tying the group to a timeshare fraud operation that authorities...
A free credit report from all three bureaus is now available weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com
Checking a credit report used to be a once-a-year ritual for most consumers, but the rules have quietly changed in a way that strengthens one...
Concord Hospital patients whose records leaked can claim a cash payment by September 11
No hacker broke into Concord Hospital’s systems. Instead, a class-action lawsuit alleged that the New Hampshire health system’s own websites quietly shared visitors’ information with...
Customers in the 700Credit data breach can claim $50, or up to $2,500, before an October hearing
Few car buyers have ever heard of 700Credit, but the company operates quietly behind the scenes at thousands of auto, RV, and marine dealerships, running...
Farmers Insurance robocall victims can claim up to $160 by September 14
Marketing calls and text messages sent on behalf of insurance agents are the basis of a class-action settlement that could put up to $160 in...
The real IRS and Social Security never demand payment in gift cards
No federal agency accepts payment in gift cards. That single fact is enough to identify one of the most persistent scams aimed at older Americans,...
Scammers posing as fraud investigators tell seniors to move savings to safety, and that instruction is the scam
The most dangerous sentence in a phone scam often sounds like the most helpful one. A caller claiming to be a fraud investigator, a bank’s...
A free credit freeze at all three bureaus blocks thieves from opening accounts
Identity thieves usually need one thing to open a credit card or loan in someone else’s name: a lender’s ability to pull that person’s credit...
A Pennsylvania man was indicted for draining over $1 million from one elderly victim
A federal grand jury has accused a Pennsylvania man of turning an elderly investor’s life savings into a commercial property deed in his own name....
Credit-union customers exposed in the Doxim data breach can claim $100, or up to $5,000, by October 13
A settlement notice reaching bank and credit-union customers this summer asks recipients to make a decision: accept a quick, modest cash payment, or take the...
An 86-year-old lost $700,000 to a scam and is suing Bank of America and Merrill Lynch to recover it
A lawsuit moving through Manhattan’s courts asks whether a brokerage and its banks should have stopped an elderly customer from wiring away nearly everything she...
The FTC sent over a million Brigit customer refunds by check and PayPal in May 2026
The Federal Trade Commission made a second Brigit refund distribution in May 2026, sending 1,052,038 payments totaling more than $6.8 million. The money went by...
American Consumer Credit Counseling clients can claim up to $3,580 from a data-breach settlement by September 16
People whose information was exposed in American Consumer Credit Counseling’s January 2025 email-account breach can seek as much as $3,580 under a proposed settlement, but...
Crimson Wine Group customers hit by a cyberattack can claim up to $5,000 for losses before September 1
Crimson Wine Group customers whose private information was accessed in a June 2024 cyberattack can seek as much as $5,000 for documented losses under a...
An Equinox data-breach settlement offers about $100 or up to $5,000 for documented losses to claimants who file by October 23
People notified that their information was involved in an Equinox Inc. data incident have an open settlement claim window, but no cash arrives automatically. The...
Onsite Mammography patients can claim up to $5,000 from a data-breach settlement before the August 11 deadline
Patients notified that their information was involved in Onsite Mammography’s October 2024 email-account breach have until August 11, 2026, to claim settlement benefits. The largest...
A pitch to take a reverse mortgage and pour the cash into an annuity is a red flag that can carry a hefty annuity fee
A reverse mortgage converts home equity into borrowed cash, while an annuity converts cash into an income contract. Combining the two can make the homeowner...
The IRS Identity Protection PIN blocks a thief from filing a return in your name and stealing your refund
A stolen Social Security number gives a criminal enough information to file a fake federal return before the legitimate taxpayer, but it is not enough...
Zelle network banks have reimbursed some customers tricked into paying fake bank or government agents since 2023
Zelle’s bank network has included a reimbursement rule for certain impostor scams since June 30, 2023, giving some customers a route that goes beyond the...
Federal authorities arrested 19 people in a $40 million elder-fraud ring in November 2025
A federal elder-fraud operation in November 2025 targeted 19 people tied to losses exceeding $40 million, according to the FBI’s San Diego field office. The...