We’ve said it too many times to count at this point, but scammers who take advantage of senior citizens are the worst. Today, the Federal Trade Commission made sure there was one less scammer out there by permanently barring the mastermind behind a multi-million dollar fraud from all future telemarketing activities. [More]
fraud
IRS Impersonation Scam Is Largest In History, Cost Consumers $15.5M
By 3.12.15
The 2015 tax season has been fraught with complications, from the fraudulent use of tax returns to the “dirty dozen” scams meant to tear consumers away from their money. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing exploring ways in which consumers could better be protected from such hustles, federal investigators divulged more information about one of the most prevalent tax-time scams in recent years, saying it has now targeted 366,000 taxpayers to the tune of $15.5 million. [More]
CFPB Returned $19.4M To 92,000 Consumers In The Last Half Of 2014
By 3.11.15
Each year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau supervisory examiners hold hundreds of companies accountable for violations of fair lending and debt collection rules. During the last half of 2014, those actions resulted in the return of $19.4 million to more than 92,000 consumers, according to a new report from the agency. [More]
Report: Stolen Credit Card Information Used By Fraudsters To Make Purchases With Apple Pay
By 3.6.15
A rash in data breaches at national retailers may have led fraudsters to use Apple Pay to make big-ticket purchases with credit card information stolen during national data breaches. [More]
‘Microsoft Tech Support’ Phone Scammer Threatens To Cut Man Into Little Pieces & Throw Them Into River
By 3.4.15
We already know that scammers use a variety of unsavory tactics when trying to take advantage of consumers; from impersonating federal agents to threatening jail time. But an alleged fraudster of the so-called “Microsoft Tech Support” scam took things to a decidedly nastier level when his hustle began to unravel. [More]
Consumers Lost $1.7B To Scams In 2014, Imposter Crimes On The Rise
By 3.2.15
For the 15th consecutive year, identity theft topped the Federal Trade Commission’s list of top consumer complaints. But its reign could be coming to an end following a significant increase in the number of scams in which con artists impersonating government agents and law enforcement personnel part consumers from their money.
[More]
Ex-Employees Claim Intuit Let Fraudulent TurboTax Returns Through For The Money
By 2.23.15
Are fraudulent tax returns the fault of the IRS, or caused by a weakness in the most popular software programs that consumers use to file their taxes? Former employees of Intuit, maker of TurboTax, allege that the company prevented security staff from flagging and shutting down obviously fraudulent accounts. Why? Market share. Fraudsters were ditching TurboTax and using other tax software when the company flagged their returns. [More]
Visa, MasterCard Working On Security Improvements To Make Data Breaches Suck Less
By 2.13.15
The data breaches, major and minor, that we’ve seen over the past few years aren’t going anywhere. Payment system and database hacks are, for now, basically inevitable. And that’s why Visa and MasterCard have both announced plans to expand their security features for online shopping. [More]
FBI Now Investigating Possible Fraudulent Federal Tax Returns From TurboTax
By 2.12.15
Days after TurboTax resumed e-filing of all state tax returns following a third-party security expert’s finding that fraudulent activity reported by state tax officials did not result from a breach of Intuit’s own systems, federal regulators announced they would take a look for themselves. [More]
IRS Issues List Of “Dirty Dozen” Scams Taxpayers Should Be On The Lookout For This Year
By 2.12.15
Each tax season fraudsters manage to separate taxpayers from billions of dollars by using aggressive schemes such as impersonating Internal Revenue Service agents or employing emails and websites designed to gather consumers’ personal information for fraudulent use. This year, the IRS has issued a list of the “Dirty Dozen” scams consumers should guard against. [More]
Mortgage Relief Pitchmen Settle FTC Charges Of Deceiving Consumers, Collecting Illegal Fees
By 2.5.15
When seeking to refinance or modify a home loan, consumer advocates urge consumers to seek assistance from professionals that have no financial stake in the outcome. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case for a group of pitchmen who have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges they conned consumers into paying hefty fees for worthless mortgage relief services. [More]
Bank CEO Rips Walmart For Allowing ID Thieves To Spend $12K Without Anyone Noticing
By 12.10.14
How do ID thieves spend $12,000 in just a couple of hours at Walmart without anyone noticing? Quite easily, apparently. Which is why one CEO of a Texas-based bank is criticizing the nation’s largest retailer. [More]
Subway Franchisee Sentenced For Hacking Registers, Stealing $40K In Gift Cards
By 11.25.14
A former Subway franchise owner was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his part in remotely hacking the restaurants’ computer systems in order to obtain more than $40,000 in gift cards. [More]
Couple Accused Of Stealing $16K By Exploiting Debit Card With Magically Increasing Balance
By 8.26.14
To my knowledge, there has never been an established, official “opposite day,” whereby spending money on products you actually magically increase how much money you have, much less an “opposite bunch of months” where this happens. So when a couple using a debit card that made them richer with every purchase realized what was happening, the legal thing to do would’ve been to pipe up. [More]
Used-Car Dealer Admits To Selling Vehicles Flooded During Superstorm Sandy
By 8.26.14
A used-car dealer in New Jersey has admitted to selling cars damaged by flooding during superstorm Sandy in 2012 to unsuspecting customers. Some of those who drove off with lemons found their cars breaking down just minutes after leaving the dealership. [More]
Here’s Another Near-Invisible Card Skimmer Found On A European ATM
By 8.22.14
On the right of this photo is a 1-euro coin, which is more or less the size of a U.S. dollar coin. On the left is a super-thin skimmer recovered from the card-reader slot of an ATM in Europe. Powered by a watch battery, it was only found when the ATM displayed a “fatal error” message and a technician came by to figure out what was wrong. [More]
Visa’s New Fraud Protection System Detects Credit Card User’s Risk At The Gas Pump
By 8.20.14
This year credit card companies have sought out ways to make credit card use safer and more secure for consumers. While we’re still waiting for the widespread implementation of chip-and-pin cards, Visa is attempting to tackle fraud at one of its more common sources: the gas pump. [More]
If You’re Going To Commit $175K In ID Theft, Don’t Do It Under Your Real Name
By 7.23.14
One would think that a scammer clever enough to steal a victim’s personal data and trick some of the nation’s largest banks into helping her steal $175,000 would have the forethought to hide her own identity. But that idea apparently didn’t occur to a North Carolina who also posted helpful photos of herself online to aid police in their search. [More]
