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Terry Ambrose

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Scams & Cons

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Greatest Financial Scams in American History

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Not surprisingly, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) top consumer complaint in 2014 was identity theft, which made up 13 percent of the 2.5 million consumer complaints received. It’s a rapidly growing issue, but not a new one. In fact, some of the FTC’s biggest busts in history have happened over the last two decades. Take […]

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The Nanny Scam is tricky for jobseekers

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The Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) recently reported on an old scam with a new twist. Let’s call it the “Nanny Scam.” How the Nanny Scam works Craigslist would be a good place for this to begin. The other option would be an email from someone claiming to be a recruiter. The recruiter will claim that there’s […]

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How to spot the Walmart check scam

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I focus on a lot of email scams, but there are still plenty of scams run by mail and phone. The Walmart check scam (or, as it’s sometimes called, the Warrant Scam) is labor intensive for fraudsters, but can be very lucrative. Jeri…

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Vacation rental scams can ruin a vacation

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With summer just around the corner, last-minute vacation rental deals are going to be at the top of many vacationers’ lists. Our desire to find a vacation rental deal opens the door for con artists to run vacation rental scams by…

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The background check email scam

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Background check email spam is a huge problem. On average, I receive 7-10 of these emails every single day. That fact alone is enough to have me concerned—not because I’m worried about someone checking the public records…

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5 Tips for Safer Home Showings

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It’s like a scene from a horror flick: A Realtor shows a home on the market only to be attacked by a criminal with malicious intent. It sounds like it could be fictional, but this scenario is very real. Realtor Magazine has reported on…

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Solar email scam — bad news for a good industry

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Solar email scams have become annoyingly common. The graphic shown was used in many of the emails I received urging me to go solar. I’m a strong proponent of solar as an energy source. What I dislike are the attempts to defraud consumers …

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The IRS Payment Confirmation email — a closer look

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Tax Day 2015 is behind us. With the passing of the April 15 deadline, millions of taxpayers are now waiting for, or have already received, refunds. And, what those millions of taxpayers provide is an opportunity for scammers. Hence, we’re…

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The fraudulent fraud phone call scam

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A fraudulent phone call about fraud on an account? This week’s scam tip seems almost too bizarre to be true, but in a recent blog post by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Alvaro Puig, Consumer Education…

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Fake government website scams

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In last week’s edition of my monthly newsletter, “The Snitch,” I discussed three tips to help avoid visiting or providing information on a fake website. In addition to fraudulent commercial websites, scammers…

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