Yesterday, a deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court stymied the White House’s hopes to enact large-scale immigration reforms that would have allowed millions of immigrants to remain in the country. While this lack of a decision doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the program, it will inevitably create confusion for those directly affected by the case, while fostering a breeding ground for fraudsters seeking to take advantage of immigrants uncertain of their status. [More]
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Supreme Court Deadlock On Immigration Puts Immigrants At Increased Risk For Fraud, Deportation
By 6.24.16
$6.3 Million In Refunds Going Out To Buyers Of Book Written By Convicted Liar Kevin Trudeau
By 6.22.16
More than two years after “author,” infomercial pitchman, and professional liar Kevin Trudeau was sentenced to 10 years in prison for repeatedly making bogus weight-loss claims about his book The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About, some of the hundreds of thousands of people conned into buying the book will be getting their money back. [More]
Tech Support Scammer Must Surrender Assets, Banned From Running Tech Support Companies
By 6.21.16
The company name “OMG Tech Help” is so great and so evocative, it’s really a shame that a tech support scam operation used it. That’s one of the brands that a company out of Florida used for a phony tech support scheme that the state of Florida and the Federal Trade Commission busted up in 2014. Now the company has been ordered to surrender the assets that it has left, and its owner can’t run any tech support businesses. [More]
Feds Shut Down Florida-Based Debt-Relief Robocall Scammers
By 6.14.16
A federal court has issued a restraining order against a network of Florida-based robocallers who bilked more than $15.6 million from victims through the use of auto-dialed, prerecorded scam calls pitching bogus credit card rate reduction under the generic guise “Bank Card Services” or “Credit Assistance Program.” [More]
U.S. & Dutch Authorities Shut Down International Scam That Bilked Millions From Elderly
By 6.2.16
Simultaneous legal actions by both the U.S. Department of Justice and Dutch authorities seek to shut down an alleged mail fraud scheme that tricked elderly Americans into paying tens of millions of dollars with the false promise of winning valuable prizes in return. [More]
New And Improved Version Of Popular ATM Malware Spotted In The Wild
By 5.20.16
Modern ATMs are just computers attached to machines stuffed with cash, and that means that ATMs can also be infected with malware and viruses. Back in 2009, a piece of malware that could make an ATM spit out cash or give out the card numbers of people who had recently used the machine was found in the wild, the not-very-creatively-named Skimer. Now the security company Kapersky Labs has discovered a new and better (if you’re not a bank or a consumer) version of Skimer out in the wild. [More]
Burned By Too Many Scams, Microsoft Bans Tech Support Ads In Bing Search Results
By 5.13.16
Imagine if an entire section of the phone book (remember those?) was dominated by fake companies and scam artists. You’d hope the phone book people would wise up and get rid of that section. That appears to be Microsoft’s way of thinking as it bans tech support ads from its Bing search results. [More]
Here’s What You’ll Find Inside A Real ATM Skimmer Found In Indonesia
By 5.9.16
What would you do if you were on vacation abroad, and you found a skimmer attached to an ATM? Security consultant Matt South discovered a camera attachment on an ATM in Bali, Indonesia, and decided to bring it back to his hotel to take it apart. He found a plastic enclosure that contained a modified motion-activated spy camera, and four holes that turned out to be a USB port. [More]
Feds Shut Down Psychic Scammers Who Tricked Victims Out Of $180 Million
By 5.9.16
We first wrote about the “Maria Duval psychic mailer” scheme, which used supposedly personalized mass mailings to trick people into paying money for Duval’s otherworldly insights, more than six years ago, and the internet is full of complaints from people who lost thousands of dollars to Duval and her related businesses. Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement that permanently bars Duval and others from continuing to bilk consumers out of their money with false promises of psychic guidance. [More]
Amazon Unintentionally Paying Scammers To Hand You 1000 Pages Of Crap You Don’t Read
By 4.20.16
For a certain kind of reader — the kind who can go through three books a week easy on her commute, let’s say — an unlimited subscription, wireless, e-book service sounds like a dream come true. That’s what Amazon promises with their Kindle Unlimited service, but the plan may be backfiring — not so much on readers, but on authors and on Amazon itself. [More]
Failed For-Profit College Operator Ordered To Pay $1.1 Billion For Predatory Practices
By 3.24.16
Corinthian Colleges Inc. — which formerly ran for-profit education chains like Everest University, Heald College, and WyoTech — may have collapsed and had its remnants sold off, but the lawsuits against the failed company continue to loom. This week, a California judge ordered the defunct company to fork over $1.1 billion to the state for lying to students, investors, and regulators. [More]
Scammer Must Repay $7.75M For Running Bogus Prayer Center & Consumer Complaint Service
By 3.17.16
When facing times of trouble, some people choose to believe in the power of prayer. Others put more trust in their ability to file an official complaint. A Seattle-based scam artist apparently figured he would cover all his bases, operating a trio of bogus companies covering everything from religion to consumer gripes. [More]
No, The IRS Will Not Call You To Verify Your Tax Return Information
By 3.14.16
Because trying to steal money from others will never get old for criminals, scammers are constantly changing tacks to come up with new ways to rake in their ill-gotten gains. This tax season, there’s a new trick bedeviling taxpayers over the phone. [More]
Seagate Employee Falls For CEO W-2 Scam, Sends Everyone’s Personal Information
By 3.7.16
Snapchat isn’t the only technology company that has fallen victim to the tax-season variation on the classic CEO e-mail scam, where a scammer impersonating the boss asks for all employees’ tax information. An employee at hard drive company Seagate fell into the same trap, sending 2015 tax information for thousands of current and former employees to unknown scammers. [More]
IRS: Email, Text Scams Targeting Taxpayers Up 400% This Year
By 2.19.16
It’s tax season, which means it’s the prime time for scammers to crawl out from underneath their scammy rocks and try to nab taxpayers’ personal info. So far, this year’s electronic tax scams are even more prevalent than before, the Internal Revenue Service says, surging 400%. [More]
Teen Arrested For Passing Himself Off As A Doctor, Opening Clinic
By 2.17.16
In a combination of Doogie Howser, MD and Catch Me If You Can, a Florida teenager has been arrested for not merely posing as a medical doctor, but for going so far as to open up his own clinic, complete with a website. [More]
Credit Card Processor For Work-At-Home Scam Companies Settles FTC Charges
By 2.11.16
When you respond to an ad promising untold wealth if you start an at-home business, someone in a call center will contact you and try to extract your credit or debit card number. There needs to be a credit card processing company involved to run that transaction, though, and the company that did so for the Tax Club work-at-home scam operation has now settled up with the Federal Trade Commission for its role in the scam. [More]
Protect Your Heart (And Wallet) From These Valentine’s Day Scams
By 2.11.16 — Updated: 2.13.17
This is the year. It’s the year you’ll wake up on Feb. 15 without the stinging sensation of intense regret that inevitably follows after mourning Valentine’s Day at the bottom of a booze bottle, covered in bits of melted chocolate stuck to you in your sleep, because your beloved turned out to be a scammer. Because this year, you’re going to be prepared for any romance scams that may come your way. [More]
