scams

 If you like shopping the sales you see on social media, think twice the next time you spot a great deal. On August 3, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported a rise in social media shopping scams. Read on to see how scammers are using social media for shopping scams. Cookies, ads, and social media shopping […]

Politics are dangerous ground. Families stop talking,  tensions rise, and people take stupid actions—including making financial contributions to organizations they know nothing about. And that’s the perfect setup for political scams that can cost you thousands of dollars. Fake Political Action Committees (PACs) A legitimate PAC must be registered with the Federal Election Commission. PACs […]

I had just started to write this month’s scam tip when I received an undeliverable message alert in my email. The message had the subject line, “I hacked your device info@terryambrose.com and you have a problem now…” Not being one to overlook divine intervention (or pure dumb luck), I decided I’d found my November scam […]

Dear Citizen — unless you’ve been living off the grid, you’ve heard this phrase. The people behind it want you to believe they can cut off your social security benefits…or send you to jail…or some equally preposterous claim. The problem is, this scam is a big deal in 2019 and people are falling for it. […]

Why am I being forced to reset my password? It’s a question I asked just this week when I tried to log into Canva and was told I needed to reset my password. I hadn’t used my Canva account in months and hadn’t received an email notification about a data breach, so I went in […]

A new friend request…what a great feeling, right? Don’t clap your hands in glee and merrily hit the Accept button, though. Otherwise you could set yourself up for trouble. In the age of social media, Facebook friend requests—and the scams they spawn—are an integral part of our online lives. From recognizing the fraud to knowing […]

Why does Amazon condone phishing emails? You could substitute any big business name such as Apple, Starbucks, or Walmart, and ask the same question. The question often raised is why don’t they do something about it?

Ed McMahon might have passed on, but Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is still hitting the streets and giving away money. That’s right, a new version of the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes is alive and well…and it’s not a scam. Unless, of course, it is. The catch I still recall seeing Ed McMahon on TV going […]

Social Security scams—the new wave The Inspector General has warned consumers to beware of robocalls from the main Social Security number. This warning comes in response to an increase in Social Security scams. Thanks to technological advances, scammers are now able to trick CallerID into displaying almost any number they choose. Is it any wonder […]