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CTV News
· 2025-07-30
Two Calgary-area nonprofits—the Calgary Humane Society and Alice Sanctuary—nearly fell victim to a scam involving fake checks for $95,000 each, supposedly from a donor's estate via a lawyer. The scammers used emotional manipulation, requesting the organizations send back smaller amounts ($7,000 and $25,000) to cover urgent pet medical care before the checks bounced. Both organizations avoided depositing the fraudulent checks and are now warning others about this scheme.
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CBS 8 San Diego
· 2025-08-01
In the first half of 2025, over 700 senior citizens in San Diego County lost nearly $70 million to financial scams, with losses on track to exceed last year's total of $98 million, though actual figures are likely higher due to underreporting. The FBI reported that seniors accounted for more than one-third of the $16 billion in nationwide fraud losses last year, with scammers targeting vulnerable elderly people who are often deceived by professional-sounding perpetrators. Local law enforcement and prosecutors are working to combat these crimes and bring scam artists to justice.
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youtube.com
· 2025-12-09
A computer scam targeting older, single men has been operating in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, with at least four reported cases in Lycoming County resulting in over $6 million in total losses. Scammers pose as young women using stolen computer information and suggestive photos to build trust with victims before gaining access to their financial accounts. Law enforcement warns residents to be vigilant about this emerging threat.
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NBC 7 San Diego
· 2025-08-06
An equestrian coach from Ramona lost nearly $6,000 in a phishing scam when she received a text warning that her bank accounts were compromised and a follow-up call appearing to be from her bank. The scammer impersonated a bank representative and guided her to "protect" her money, but the bank later confirmed they were never the ones contacting her. The victim is now speaking publicly to warn others about this common social engineering fraud tactic.
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FTCvideos
· 2025-08-06
**Summary:**
Scammers continually target people to steal money, social security numbers, and account information. When you suspect a scam, report it immediately to trusted contacts (family, friends, neighbors) and then file a report with the Federal Trade Commission, as each report helps investigators build cases against scammers and identify patterns to shut down fraudulent operations.
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ABC News In-depth
· 2025-08-05
An 81-year-old Chinese-Australian woman lost $40,000 in jewelry and cash to the "Chinese blessing scam," a decades-old fraud targeting elderly members of the Chinese community. Scammers approached her in a Sydney park, falsely claiming a curse threatened her son, then convinced her to hand over valuables for a ritualistic "blessing" before switching them with worthless items and instructing her not to open the bag for a month. The scam exploits traditional Chinese cultural beliefs about curses and misfortune, with reports of similar schemes dating back to the 1980s in China and affecting victims worldwide.
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CBC News
· 2025-08-07
Cecil and Sam Victor, elderly customers at TD Bank for over 40 years, lost approximately $10,000 in a "grandparent scam" after receiving calls claiming their grandson needed bail money for a car accident; they made two wire transfers within a day of each other. Their daughter questions the bank's fraud prevention practices, arguing that tellers should have flagged the suspicious back-to-back transfers from senior customers as unusual activity, though TD Bank stated the transactions were authorized and declined to intervene.
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CBS Sunday Morning
· 2025-08-10
Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, discovered that scammers were using deepfake or edited videos of him on YouTube to perpetrate a Bitcoin fraud scheme, promising to double any Bitcoin sent to a provided address. Victims, including Jennifer Marion who lost $59,000 worth of Bitcoin, received nothing in return, and Wozniak sued YouTube for failing to remove the fraudulent videos despite repeated requests from his legal team.
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WREG News Channel 3
· 2025-08-11
Unable to provide accurate summary. The provided text appears to be a garbled or corrupted transcript with significant OCR errors and incomplete segments that make the actual content indecipherable. While the title mentions "tariff scams" involving fake government and shipping messages that trick people into paying fees, the body text does not contain coherent information about this scam. To create an accurate summary for the Elderus database, please provide a clean, readable version of the article.
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KPBS Public Media
· 2025-08-11
An 86-year-old San Diego senior named Bob Duff was targeted by a romance scam when someone posing as a 37-year-old South Korean woman named Kalista initiated contact via text, built rapport over two days on the messaging app Telegram, and attempted to establish an emotional connection. The incident illustrates how tech-savvy scammers are increasingly targeting San Diego seniors by exploiting loneliness and using social engineering tactics on digital platforms.
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NBC 10 WJAR
· 2025-08-13
This educational piece discusses the growing threat of elder fraud, referencing a recent grandparent scam takedown involving 13 arrests that affected over 400 victims. A banking expert explains that scam volumes have increased exponentially due to technological advances, including AI-powered tactics like voice cloning and deepfake videos that make scams more sophisticated and convincing, particularly in romance and impersonation schemes targeting seniors.
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CBS News
· 2025-08-13
Federal law enforcement dismantled a coordinated grandparent scam ring operating from a call center in the Dominican Republic, charging 13 alleged scammers who stole millions of dollars from hundreds of elderly victims across the country. The operation used runners in the United States, including Massachusetts, to pick up cash from victims' homes and used ride-share services to transport the money, with the investigation initiated after alert Uber drivers reported suspicious activity. The scammers posed as grandchildren in emergencies to manipulate victims into sending money.
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CBS Miami
· 2025-08-13
The FBI dismantled a grandparent scam operation run from a Dominican Republic call center that defrauded over 400 seniors of more than $5 million. Scammers used scripts to convince elderly victims that a grandchild needed urgent money, then deployed local runners using Uber to collect cash payments. Authorities were alerted after Uber's security team flagged suspicious activity, and experts recommend families establish a code word to verify callers' identities and prevent similar schemes.
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CBS TEXAS
· 2025-08-14
The FBI dismantled an international grandparent scam operation originating from a Dominican Republic call center that defrauded over 400 senior citizens of more than $5 million. Scammers used scripts to convince vulnerable seniors that a grandchild needed immediate financial assistance, while U.S.-based runners collected cash via Uber, until Uber's security team flagged the activity to authorities. Experts recommend families establish code words for phone verification and note that law enforcement never requests money over the phone.
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Channel 3000 / News 3 Now
· 2025-08-13
The FBI dismantled a grandparent scam operation based in the Dominican Republic that targeted over 400 senior citizens, defrauding them of more than $5 million. Scammers used call center scripts to convince grandparents that their grandchildren needed emergency money, with local US "runners" collecting cash via Uber, until the rideshare company's security team alerted the FBI. The article recommends establishing family code words, remembering that law enforcement never requests money by phone, and monitoring older relatives for warning signs like secretive phone behavior or unusual cash withdrawals.
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ABC10
· 2025-08-14
According to the Federal Trade Commission's 2024 data, Gen Z consumers ages 20-29 reported losing money to fraud and scams more frequently than adults ages 70-79, despite their digital fluency. Scammers target young people through phishing emails, fake websites, impostor schemes posing as financial aid offices, and scholarship or job offer scams. Experts recommend that young consumers verify the legitimacy of online merchants and email senders to protect themselves as they take on more independent financial responsibilities.
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KREM 2 News
· 2025-08-14
The FBI dismantled a grandparent scam operation run from a Dominican Republic call center that defrauded over 400 senior citizens of more than $5 million by convincing them their grandchildren needed emergency money. The scammers used scripted calls to exploit victims' emotional connections to family members, causing not only financial losses but also emotional trauma and loss of trust. To prevent such scams, authorities recommend establishing family code words, verifying caller identity through independent contact, avoiding sending money to unknown recipients, and watching for warning signs like secrecy around calls or unusual cash withdrawals.
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WBIR Channel 10
· 2025-08-14
Gen Z and college students ages 20-29 are being increasingly targeted by scammers through phishing texts, fake job offers, and fraudulent websites, with the FTC reporting that younger people now report fraud losses more frequently than those ages 70-79. Although Gen Z possesses strong digital skills, this same fluency can create a blind spot that makes them vulnerable to sophisticated scams impersonating financial aid offices, offering fake scholarships, or posing as legitimate online merchants. Experts recommend that young consumers verify the legitimacy of online interactions, check for trusted institutions, and remain cautious about unsolicited communications claiming to be from banks or financial aid offices.
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Eyewitness News ABC7NY
· 2025-08-15
Gen Z ages 20-29 reported losing money to fraud and scams more frequently than older adults ages 70-79 in 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission. While Gen Z possesses strong digital skills, this fluency can become a blind spot, leaving them vulnerable to scams such as phishing emails and fake websites, particularly as they head to college and make independent financial decisions. Experts advise young consumers to verify the legitimacy of online merchants and be cautious about unsolicited communications to protect themselves from fraud.
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WTAJ News
· 2025-08-16
The Centre County Sheriff's Office warned the public of a scam in which fraudsters impersonate the United States Postal Service to deceive victims into believing they owe unpaid state taxes. The sheriff's office urged residents to report any suspicious activity or potential fraud to local law enforcement or state police.
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WHNT News 19
· 2025-08-19
Scammers are tricking consumers into paying fees for passport renewal forms that are actually free downloads from the U.S. government website. These fraudulent sites mimic the official government website (ending in .com instead of .gov) and may trick victims into providing personal and financial information, potentially leading to identity theft. Consumers should verify they are using the official site (travel.state.gov) and avoid clicking sponsored search results, while monitoring their bank accounts if they suspect they've been victimized.
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FOX5 Las Vegas
· 2025-08-20
The "one-ring scam" involves illegal robocallers making single-ring calls designed to trigger curiosity and prompt victims to call back numbers that appear to be US-based but are actually international (e.g., Sierra Leone's 232 area code, Dominican Republic's 809). When victims return the call, they risk being connected to premium international numbers with high per-minute fees that appear as mysterious charges on their phone bills. To avoid this scam, do not answer or return calls from unrecognized numbers, verify area codes before calling back, and report any fraudulent charges to the FTC.
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FOX59 News
· 2025-08-19
Imposter scammers are increasingly targeting seniors' life savings, with the number of older Americans reporting losses exceeding $100,000 increasing nearly sevenfold since 2020, according to FTC data. Scammers impersonating businesses and government agencies use three common tactics to create urgency and fear: claiming unauthorized account use, identity theft, or computer security problems, then instructing victims to move money to accounts they control under the guise of protection. The FTC advises never transferring money at a stranger's direction and instead hanging up and contacting trusted contacts or the agency directly to verify claims.
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KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas
· 2025-08-21
Rental listing scams are on the rise in southern Nevada, where fraudsters pose as landlords on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, posting fake rental listings with stolen property photos and artificially low prices to lure renters into sending deposits that are never recovered. In one notable case, scammers used North Las Vegas Councilman Isaac Baron's home to solicit $1,200 monthly rental deposits through fraudulent listings complete with fake credit checks, demonstrating how these schemes exploit housing affordability pressures and affect victims across income levels.
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KENS 5: Your San Antonio News Source
· 2025-08-21
In the first half of 2025, Texas residents lost approximately $10 million to scams, with three types dominating: debt collection scams ($2 million in losses, a 100-fold increase from $20,000 the previous year), investment scams ($3.7 million, double the prior year's $1.9 million), and employment scams. The Better Business Bureau warns that scammers exploit financial vulnerabilities, particularly through debt collection schemes that now target medical debt included in credit reports.
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CNY Central
· 2025-08-20
Federal authorities arrested 13 people involved in a transnational grandparent scam that defrauded at least 400 elderly victims nationwide of approximately $5 million, with funds funneled to the Dominican Republic. Scammers called victims from call centers in the Dominican Republic, impersonating grandchildren in distress and requesting urgent wire transfers, sometimes using ride-share drivers to collect cash in person. An elderly couple from Cayuga County, New York, was among the victims, losing nearly $25,000 to the scheme.
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FOX6 News Milwaukee
· 2025-08-22
**Title:** Preventing scams and fraud | FOX6 News Milwaukee
A Hartford staffing support company received a convincing phone call from someone impersonating their bank, with a spoofed caller ID, claiming fraudulent transactions required setting up a new account and requesting current account credentials. The company president recognized red flags when asked for sensitive information despite the caller's friendly demeanor and trust-building tactics, ultimately refusing to provide the information and avoiding financial loss. The segment provides awareness about how financial fraud scams use social engineering and caller ID spoofing to appear legitimate and manipulate victims into revealing account information.
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Eyewitness News ABC7NY
· 2025-08-22
A man was scammed out of $17,000 after a United Airlines representative accidentally transferred him to a scammer posing as another airline's customer service while rebooking his cancelled European vacation flights. The scammer convinced him to pay $17,000 for rebooking services that never went through, and United Airlines later confirmed their agent had googled a fake airline number and transferred the call unknowingly. United is working to resolve the situation with the victim.
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ABC11
· 2025-08-23
Back-to-school season sees a rise in scams targeting students and parents, including social media fraud from oversharing personal information in photos and fake e-commerce websites offering steep discounts that never deliver products. The Better Business Bureau recommends obscuring personal details like children's names, schools, and teachers' names before posting back-to-school photos online, and advises shopping only on verified websites using credit cards for fraud protection.
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Good Morning America
· 2025-08-24
According to the Federal Trade Commission, people ages 20-29 (Gen Z) reported losing more money to fraud scams than people ages 70-79 (baby boomers), challenging the assumption that older adults are most vulnerable to scams. While Gen Z's digital fluency is an advantage, it does not make them immune to scams; scammers actively exploit seasonal vulnerabilities and target this tech-savvy generation through their digital platforms, including tactics like imposter scams timed around events like back-to-school shopping.
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ABC News
· 2025-08-24
According to the Federal Trade Commission, people ages 20-29 (Gen Z) reported losing more money to fraud scams than people ages 70-79 (Baby Boomers), contrary to common assumptions about elder fraud vulnerability. While Gen Z's digital fluency is an asset, scammers exploit this same digital environment and target seasonal vulnerabilities specific to younger generations, such as back-to-school imposter scams.
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Sunrise
· 2025-08-27
Australians lost $175 million to scams in the first half of the year, with fraudsters increasingly using artificial intelligence to create highly convincing schemes targeting everyday people. Common scams impersonate government services like Services Australia, MyGov, Centerlink, and Medicare to trick victims into revealing personal and financial information through malicious links and phishing emails. To protect yourself, recognize that scammers often use sophisticated tactics to get you to click links or provide sensitive data, and be cautious of unsolicited communications claiming to be from government agencies.
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WSOCTV9
· 2025-08-28
This educational piece from WSOC-TV features attorney Jason Stujeni's advice on how to discuss scam awareness with aging parents. He recommends teaching seniors to recognize red flags—including poor spelling, requests for unusual payment methods (gift cards, wire transfers), emotional manipulation, unsolicited contact from those claiming to represent banks or government agencies, and AI-enabled grandchild impersonation scams—and to avoid answering unknown contacts, clicking unfamiliar links, or sharing personal information with strangers.
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Click On Detroit | Local 4 | WDIV
· 2025-08-29
Scammers are sending fraudulent text messages impersonating package delivery services and toll collection agencies, using urgent language to pressure recipients into clicking malicious links or providing personal information. Key red flags include messages claiming delivery delays or payment issues that demand immediate action, which is a common scam tactic. Consumer Reports advises staying vigilant and recognizing artificial urgency as a warning sign of text message fraud.
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WIFR TV
· 2025-09-01
The Better Business Bureau warns consumers to remain vigilant against seasonal scams during Labor Day weekend, as fraudsters continue operating despite the holiday. Common threats include fake vacation rental listings that demand upfront payments, fraudulent ticket vendors, and contractors who offer suspiciously low bids or pressure quick payment decisions.
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10 Tampa Bay News
· 2025-09-02
A 70-year-old former police officer and firefighter from Port Richie, Florida lost $47,000 in an AI-generated romance scam after developing an online relationship with a woman named "Bonnie" who claimed to need money for an overseas job. The scammer, traced to Nigeria, used AI-generated images and extracted funds through wire transfers and Bitcoin before the victim discovered the deception. The victim now faces an additional $22,000 debt demand from his bank and warns others about the dangers of romance scams, particularly for lonely individuals seeking connection.
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KJRH -TV | Tulsa | Channel 2
· 2025-09-02
The "phantom hacker" scam, which has stolen over $1 billion from seniors, uses a three-part scheme: fraudsters impersonating bank support alert victims to suspicious account activity, then fake government officials offer to help protect the money, and finally scammers gain remote computer access by claiming someone is stealing funds, allowing them to drain accounts while instructing victims to tell no one, especially their bank. Key warning signs include urgent threats and demands for secrecy.
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FOX6 News Milwaukee
· 2025-09-03
Scammers in Milwaukee have targeted food truck vendors by soliciting them for fake festival and event vendor fees through payment apps like Cash App and Venmo, with vendors paying $400-$500 upfront only to discover the events don't exist and the money cannot be recovered. While some vendors have avoided the scams, others have lost money after showing up to non-existent events or finding themselves not on vendor lists despite paying fees.
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WION
· 2025-09-04
An 80-year-old Japanese woman lost approximately $6,700 to a romance scam in which a fraudster posing as an astronaut stranded in space convinced her through social media chats that he needed funds for oxygen. Police identified this as part of a growing trend of romance scams targeting Japan's elderly and lonely population, with over 3,000 such scams reported in the first 11 months of 2024—more than double the 2023 total. Authorities have issued an advisory urging the public to report suspicious social media contacts demanding payment.
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FOX 35 Orlando
· 2025-09-03
Carol West lost $60,000 in a romance scam conducted by Cory Woodall, a North Carolina resident who was extradited to Volusia County to face charges of organized fraud scheme and grand theft over $20,000. West sent money through traditional transfers and Bitcoin, which detectives tracked being moved multiple times, and while she may not recover her funds, Woodall now faces criminal prosecution.
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KETK NBC
· 2025-09-04
The Better Business Bureau advises families to protect seniors from scams during Grandparents Day by recognizing common fraud tactics. Seniors are frequently targeted because they tend to be more isolated and trusting, making them vulnerable to schemes including the grandparent scam, high-pressure sales calls, and phishing scams. Families should watch for warning signs such as excessive spam emails, junk mail, and suspicious text messages as indicators that an older adult may be targeted by scammers.
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ABC10
· 2025-09-04
California seniors lost $1.7 billion to fraud in 2024, with scammers increasingly targeting older adults through digital devices using evolving tactics like spoofing and gift card scams. Experts from AARP and Chase Bank conducted educational workshops in Sacramento to help seniors recognize common scams and protect their identities, emphasizing that awareness and vigilance are key to prevention.
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WDEF News 12
· 2025-09-04
Phishing scams have become increasingly sophisticated since the 1990s, with fraudsters now using emails, text messages, phone calls, QR codes, and AI-generated voices to deceive victims into sharing sensitive information like bank accounts, passwords, and social security numbers. Notably, younger adults aged 18-30 are now falling victim to these scams more frequently than older Americans, particularly through online shopping schemes, while businesses and consumers collectively face millions in losses annually from stolen funds, identity theft, and malware infections.
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CBS Mornings
· 2025-09-06
This educational piece outlines warning signs and protection strategies against modern scams, particularly AI scams and romance scams. It highlights that scammers stole a record $16.6 billion through internet crimes like identity theft and online impersonation in 2024—a 33% increase from the previous year—by exploiting personal data left behind through online activity. The article recommends protective measures including investigating your digital trail through Google searches, managing social media profiles, and being aware of how data brokers collect and sell personal information to third parties.
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Bangkok Post
· 2025-09-08
This episode from the Bangkok Post examines Thailand's growing cyber scam epidemic, which has expanded into a trillion-dollar industry over the past three years as both scammer and victim numbers have surged. The content outlines common scam tactics including advance-fee schemes (fake Nigerian prince emails), phishing attacks impersonating banks and government agencies to steal identity and funds, and tech support scams where fraudsters pose as Microsoft to gain computer access. The episode illustrates how modern cyber scams are adaptations of centuries-old swindle techniques now conducted through digital channels.
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23ABC News | KERO
· 2025-09-08
A 2025 identity theft survey shows impersonation scams are on the rise, with scammers impersonating banks, law enforcement, and trusted contacts via text, calls, and emails—often using AI to target victims more precisely. Victims are increasingly sharing sensitive personal information including social security numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, financial account details, and passwords, putting them at risk for financial and identity fraud. The Better Business Bureau and Identity Theft Resource Center urge consumers to be cautious about unsolicited contact and not share personal information, even if the message appears to come from someone they know.
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FOX 32 Chicago
· 2025-09-08
AI-powered voice cloning scams are targeting seniors, with criminals using over 570 readily available tools that require only three to five seconds of audio to create convincing voice replicas of loved ones. Cases like a grandmother in Philadelphia have resulted in financial losses as scammers impersonate family members to manipulate victims into sending money. The technology has evolved dramatically, making it far easier for attackers to exploit publicly available voice samples from social media, voicemail greetings, and other online sources.
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WFMY News 2
· 2025-09-11
Deed fraud has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, involving the unauthorized transfer of real estate through forged documents with false signatures, identity theft, and fraudulent mortgage information filed in public records. Guilford County and other counties have issued property tax fraud alerts to protect homeowners from losing their homes to scammers, and state lawmakers are working to draft legislation to address this costly and complex problem.
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KVUE
· 2025-09-12
Frisco, Texas high school senior Tazby Minaj was named TIME Magazine's 2025 Kid of the Year for creating Shield Seniors, a website dedicated to teaching older Americans how to identify and report online fraud and scams. The project was inspired by her grandfather's near-victimization in a scam, and Minaj plans to continue this elder fraud awareness work while pursuing college applications.
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FTCvideos
· 2025-09-19
Federal Trade Commission commissioners warn that scammers impersonate FTC officials to defraud victims. The FTC clarifies that legitimate officials never call threatening people or instructing them to withdraw money and transfer it to others—such requests are always scams. Consumers should visit ftc.gov/imposters to learn more about recognizing and avoiding imposter scams.