Category: Scams & Fraud

FTC data show a record $16 billion in reported fraud losses for 2025: $7.9 billion to investment scams, $3.5 billion to imposters. What to watch this year.

Government impersonation complaints jumped 25% last year. The exact things the real Social Security Administration will never say on a call, per SSA and its OIG.

A data breach letter is a to-do list, not a death sentence. The free steps that matter in the first two days: freeze, change, watch, and document.

FinCEN gives banks a written checklist of romance scam warning signs. Here are the behavioral and transaction red flags, and how to run them on yourself.

Billions in Medicare fraud gets caught because someone read a statement. How to check your Medicare Summary Notice, spot fake charges, and report them.

Grandparent scams follow a predictable script: a fake emergency, a demand for secrecy, untraceable payment. Here is each step and the family rule that beats it.

258.5 million numbers sit on the Do Not Call Registry, yet phones keep ringing. What the list can and cannot do, and the steps that actually cut robocalls.

Check fraud reports nearly doubled to over 680,000 in a single year. How check washing works, who covers the loss, and how to protect the checks you mail.

No real business or government agency will ever demand payment by gift card. How the scam works, the scripts criminals use, and the freeze numbers to call fast.

Imposter scams were the most-reported fraud of 2024, with $2.95 billion in losses per FTC data. The script scammers follow, and what real agencies never say.