ReportWire

Tag: scams

  • Here’s how to spot scam sports betting websites and apps when wagering in North Carolina

    Here’s how to spot scam sports betting websites and apps when wagering in North Carolina

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    NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) — A new wave of scams is targeting customers looking to get into the action of sports betting.

    Starting March 11, you’ll be able to legally place a bet on your favorite sports team in North Carolina and you should be aware of who you’re giving your money to. Scammers are always looking for ways to get your money, and when it comes to sports betting don’t get caught up in the excitement and ignore the red flags on imposter sports betting websites.

    March 1st is the first day you can create an account and deposit money into online sportsbooks, so you are ready to place your bet on March 11. When you find a sports betting website, do your research.

    Nick Hill with the BBB of Eastern Carolinas says, “A lot of the scams that we’re anticipating are these scammers who create copycat websites and copycat services that mimic these real and legitimate sites and apps.”

    Hill says the BBB Scam Tracker is seeing reports from consumers who accidentally registered with scam sports betting websites and apps. Hill says the fakes lure you in with too-good-to-be-true deals. “Maybe sign-up deals or guarantee winnings with their bets. Just know that nobody can guarantee winnings and that will be a for sure sign of a scam,” Hill adds.

    One consumer filed a BBB Scam Tracker complaint that states: after seeing an ad online about a 1 for 1 deposit match, they put in $500, but their complaint alleges the match was far less valuable than their $500 and when it came time to withdraw their money, their account was locked and couldn’t get their $500 bucks back.

    Hill says, “Before you place your bet, you really need to read the fine print on incentives and the terms and conditions.”

    Before you place a bet, make sure the company is licensed to operate here in the state, which you can easily check online here.

    Also on any website, look for the lock symbol and HTTPS, that means the website is secure. Also know that even on legitimate sports betting websites, you might not get access to your winnings. “Make sure that you know that these companies and apps can freeze your winnings for any number of reasons if they deem that you have displayed unusual playing patterns,”

    Hill says.

    Research is always key when it comes to your money. The biggest thing you need to watch out for are copycat websites, that make big promises like everyone is a winner, or that if you lose they will refund your money.

    Copyright © 2024 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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    Diane Wilson

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  • How a WTOP reporter almost got swindled by a scammer over the phone – WTOP News

    How a WTOP reporter almost got swindled by a scammer over the phone – WTOP News

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    Montgomery County Police say among the most common scams are phone calls in which the caller impersonates law enforcement or a government agency threatening the victim with arrest or fines unless they pay a fee.

    Scam phone calls have become more prevalent and in some cases more convincing these days as thieves try to steal victims’ money and personal or financial information.

    Montgomery County Police say among the most common scams are phone calls in which the caller impersonates law enforcement or a government agency threatening the victim with arrest or fines unless they pay a fee.

    WTOP Traffic and Sports Reporter Steve Dresner said the phone call that he received Monday morning nearly fooled him.

    “This was as real as it gets. He said he was from law enforcement. I even heard police radios in the background,” Dresner said. “And he simply said that we have two jury violations in your name, you need to come to Germantown to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and clear this up for a fee of just over $1,000 and he named invoice numbers and a juror number.”

    “The person who called actually identified himself as a lieutenant from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department,” said Dresner.

    Montgomery County Police said they received multiple complaints from residents who had received similar phone calls. Police said people should know, first and foremost, that law enforcement will never call to ask for money.

    Police advise that other signs of phone scams are that callers go to great lengths to keep you on the phone. The caller makes the matter seem extremely urgent. They will sometimes say that someone will pick up the money or direct the victim to mail the money or deposit it into an unknown bank account or cash-sharing app. Sometimes victims are asked to buy Bitcoin or gift cards as untraceable payment methods.

    Dresner said he was surprised at how convincing the scammer sounded, referring to senior officers, supervisors and the importance of settling the fines that had been assigned to his property address.

    “The person had my name, address and phone number, [and] knew I … lived in Montgomery County,” said Dresner.

    To prevent scam phone calls, Montgomery County Police recommend using call-blocking apps to screen and block unwanted calls. They also advise to never share personal or financial information in unsolicited phone calls.

    Although Dresner held onto his money, Montgomery County Police said scams like this can lead to significant financial losses and compromise a victim’s personal information.

    While any phone call purporting to be from police asking for money is a scam, anyone unsure of whether they are talking to a real police officer on the phone can always ask the officer for their ID number and then call the police nonemergency number to verify the call.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Dick Uliano

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  • Watch out for romance scams this Valentine’s Day

    Watch out for romance scams this Valentine’s Day

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    We’re just two days away from Valentine’s Day and scammers are already pulling in big money from unsuspecting romantics, with a new boost from artificial intelligence. 

    The newest way to scam you out of your money involves machines, which have been learning which romance-oriented plots have worked in the past.

    They can now crank out emails, text messages, and even phone calls — much faster than humans.

    That way, they can reach more potential victims, convince them of a romantic interest, and then turn the topic to money, and how they need help.

    NBC Bay Area’s Scott Budman has more in video player above.

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    NBC Bay Area staff

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  • Grandmother loses life savings and sues bank

    Grandmother loses life savings and sues bank

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    It has been a dark time for Alice Lin.   

    Lin, 80, tells the NBC4 I-Team she lost more than $700,000, her life savings, after someone befriended her through text messages.    

    “It was so hard for the last year or so,” Lin explains. “My goal is to try to survive.”  

    In 2022, Lin says she began conversations with a man through an online web chat, and they discussed similar experiences like the loss of her husband to cancer years back. She says the man claimed to have also lost his wife tragically.  

    “And then I just start to trust him.”

    She says he told her about investing in cryptocurrency, asked her to download apps to invest, and showed her what appeared to be profitable accounts.  

    “Then I was thinking, I can help my son, who is on disability. So, I thought, that would be good. That I can, you know, make a little bit of money,” Lin says.  

    “He gave me the instruction and where to send the money to. So for me to go to the bank, to wire the money, and at that time, I totally trust him, so I just follow him,” Lin adds.  

    She explains she visited local Chase bank branches and began making transfers — hundreds of thousands of dollars — only a couple of days apart in August of 2022, according to a complaint filed on her behalf in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.  

    “We allege that there was a number of red flags and that Chase bank either knew that Ms. Lin was being scammed or definitely should have known,” Lin’s attorney Anne Marie Murphy says.  

    The complaint alleges Chase representatives did not “…ask any pertinent questions, flag these highly irregular and suspicious transactions for further review, or complete a sufficient risk assessment …”   

    The complaint also claims Lin had not made wires with Chase for several years prior and alleges bank representatives did not contact Lin or her eldest daughter, an authorized user on the account.  

    Floy Shieh, Lin’s daughter, says a notification from the bank could have helped her mother.    

    “I go to the gas station in some weird place, trying to spend $50. I get a notification on my cell phone,” Shieh says.   

    In a statement emailed to the NBC4 I-Team, a Chase spokesperson says:  

    “Consumers should always be suspicious when someone they don’t know asks them to urgently send money.   

    Scammers impersonate companies, banks, government agencies and even family members to try to trick consumers out of their hard earned money. We urge all consumers to ignore phone or internet requests for money or access to their computer or bank accounts. Legitimate organizations or companies won’t make these requests, but scammers will.    

    When customers visit our branches to complete wire transactions, our bankers ask questions, raise awareness around various scam scenarios and provide clear warnings that once a wire is sent, you may not be able to recover your money. These interactions occurred in this case when … Ms. Lin authorized these wires.”  

    Chase also provided their scam prevention tips:  

    If you want to be sure you are talking to a legitimate representative of your bank, call the number on the back of your card or visit a branch.  

    Scammers can “spoof” phone numbers. The caller ID can say the call or text is from Chase even though it’s not. They do this to trick people into providing their personal or financial information or to get you to send money. Remember, even if your caller ID says a call or text is from Chase, it could be a scam. When in doubt hang up and call us directly.  

    Consumers should protect their personal account information, passwords and one-time passcodes.  

    Banks will never call, text or email asking for you to send money to yourself or anyone else to prevent fraud.  

    Always double check who you are sending money to – once you send money, you might not get it back.  

    To learn more about common scams and ways to protect yourself, visit: www.chase.com/securitycenter.  

    Standing among her roses from more than 100 bushes she planted over the past year, Lin is now focusing on the things which bring her joy.    

    “Not only I want to be alive, I will try to see whether I can help the other victims to make aware all this happens,” Lin said.   

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    Lolita Lopez

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  • Airbnb Scammer Who Allegedly Made Millions on Fake Listings Arrested | Entrepreneur

    Airbnb Scammer Who Allegedly Made Millions on Fake Listings Arrested | Entrepreneur

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    This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

    An Airbnb host accused of making millions by posting fake bookings across the country on short-term rental sites was arrested and charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to an indictment filed last Thursday in Florida district court.

    Prosecutors say Shray Goel — who described himself as a real estate visionary on his website — and those who worked for him made $7 million on Airbnb and $1.5 million on Vrbo by scamming people who booked one of his hundreds of listings, according to the indictment which was first reported on by the newsletter Court Watch.

    The “double-booking-bait-and-switch scheme” occurred between January 2018 and November 2019, according to the indictment. The complaint said Goel and associates would purposely double-book guests and then invent “fake last-minute excuses for canceling overbooked guests or tricking them into switching to inferior replacements.”

    The indictment said over 100 properties in the scheme were listed in several states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, and Texas, among others.

    Goel and his associates would flat-out cancel stays for some guests and keep the fees they collected, according to the indictment, or they would lie to the rental platform to avoid issuing a refund to a guest. Sometimes, they would encourage guests to stay at alternative properties they offered as a false upgrade and keep the money when guests complained, the indictment said.

    When Airbnb customer service got involved, Goel would “pressure, threaten, and insult” representatives on the phone to get his way, prosecutors said. And if customers left negative feedback, Goel and those working with him would retaliate by leaving negative reviews about guests or re-listing the property so the unfavorable reviews would disappear, according to the indictment.

    The indictment said that in some instances, Goel and others working with him listed properties for rent that didn’t even exist.

    Goel and his associates also used aliases, sometimes pretending to be real people by using their identities and documentation, “to conceal their own identities, to double-book properties, to hide negative reviews by de-listing and re-listing properties, to protect against properties being removed from the rental platforms (by having properties listed through multiple hosts), and to continue to list properties after they had been banned from Vrbo in 2015 because of repeated host cancellations and guest complaints.”

    Many of the fake host accounts were pretending to be couples, according to the indictment, with names like “Alex & Brittany” and “Jess and Tyler.”

    Goel did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

    In a long social media post on Wednesday, Goel appeared to reference his ongoing legal troubles without mentioning any specifics about the case. He also appeared to deny the reports on the matter.

    “The story that’s unfolding about me right now is complex, and I know it’s stirred up a lot of different feelings,” he wrote on X. “While it’s easy to get caught up in a media narrative – I hope you give me the opportunity to share my perspective once the legal process concludes.”

    Goel’s was first named in a 2019 Vice article by journalist Allie Conti, who said she also fell victim to an Airbnb scam orchestrated by Goel and his associates.

    The article resulted in sweeping changes at Airbnb in 2019, Vice reported, which included verifying 7 million listings on the platform and implementing a rebooking and refunding system for guests unsatisfied with their stays. The accounts identified as being part of the scheme were also removed.

    “Airbnb is built on trust, and bad actors have no place in our community. We supported the US Attorney’s Office and the FBI throughout their investigation to help ensure accountability, and we are thankful to them for their work,” Airbnb told Business Insider in a statement regarding the charges.

    Vrbo did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

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    Hannah Getahun, Kelsey Vlamis, and Lloyd Lee

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  • Logan Paul promises CryptoZoo refunds, as long as you don't sue him | TechCrunch

    Logan Paul promises CryptoZoo refunds, as long as you don't sue him | TechCrunch

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    Logan Paul is offering refunds for CryptoZoo, the failed and allegedly fraudulent Pokémon-inspired NFT game that he launched in 2021. The catch? You can’t sue him if you get a refund.

    In an X (formerly Twitter) post on Thursday, Paul announced that he is “personally committing” more than $2.3 million to buy back NFTs purchased through CryptoZoo. Claims can be submitted online until February 8.

    “I never made a single penny from the project, period. In fact, the opposite is true, because I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to make it happen,” Paul said in his post. “Like you, I was highly disappointed that the game was not delivered.”

    Claimants will receive 0.1 ETH per eligible NFT — known as “Base Eggs” and “Base Animals.” Players were supposed to be able to “breed” the animals that “hatched” from the base NFT that they purchased, which would create “hybrid” animals that were also NFTs. Hybrid animals are not eligible for the buy-back program.

    The form’s terms and conditions also note that any submitted NFTs that Paul “in his sole discretion deems ineligible” will not be returned. To be eligible for a refund, claimants also have to agree to waive any “actual or anticipated claims against Paul” — which means promising not to take legal action against him in relation to CryptoZoo.

    The influencer, who faces a class action lawsuit for allegedly making millions of dollars of cryptocurrency by promoting a game that ultimately didn’t exist, also filed a cross-claim. In an X post, he said that he “filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas to hold these bad actors accountable.”

    “This lawsuit is the result of an exhaustive investigation that included the review of the entirety of conversations and tracking nefarious trading activity related to the project,” Paul continued in his X post. “Nefarious trading activity taken behind our backs, without our knowledge, and with the intention of defrauding us all.”

    Rob Freund, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who represents brands and creators, told TechCrunch that the buy-back program could be Paul’s attempt at minimizing damages. Class action lawsuits can be “devastating” for defendants, as damages can include what the plaintiff and class members initially lost, in addition to punitive damages and attorney’s fees. Freund suggested that by refunding NFTs in exchange for waiving claims against him, Paul can individually settle with class members, effectively minimizing the potential damages.

    “Paul may be betting (or at least hoping) that enough people who would otherwise be potential class members will take him up on this offer and drastically reduce his potential exposure in the pending case by doing so,” Freund said. “That would let him angle for a much more favorable settlement.”

    Paul described the NFT project as a “really fun game that makes you money” when he announced it during an August 2021 episode of his podcast, “Impaulsive.” CryptoZoo was marketed as a collecting game using Ethereum — each NFT was an egg that was supposed to hatch into an animal that was assigned one of five levels of rarity. Those animals could be bred to produce hybrid animals, which also varied in rarity. Every time an egg hatched, it was supposed to yield a certain amount of $ZOO tokens, which were determined by the animal’s rarity. Players were supposed to be able to either buy more eggs or cash out each time an animal hatched.

    Paul also promised that CryptoZoo would include interactive minigames and that the project would eventually “enter the metaverse.”

    A three-part investigation by independent YouTube reporter Coffeezilla documented how the project unraveled; the game was never finished because developers quit due to nonpayment, Paul and his associates allegedly planned to engage in market manipulation and players couldn’t breed their hatched eggs or cash out.

    Coffeezilla reported that two anonymous accounts received payouts from the project — one received $364,000 (92.7697 ETH) and the other received $1 million (260.000 ETH). At the time of Coffeezilla’s reporting, CryptoZoo held approximately $79,875,629, or 1,214,225,001.8 $ZOO for “wildlife charities and CryptoZoo development.

    In now-deleted response videos, Paul accused another CryptoZoo developer of scamming him and the rest of the team, but later told fans on Discord that he would be “taking accountability.” He then outlined a plan to pay back investors and finish the game.

    The class action lawsuit filed last year in the Western District of Texas alleges that Paul and other CryptoZoo associates promoted the project to “consumers unfamiliar with digital currency products,” and that they “manipulated the digital currency market for Zoo Tokens to their advantage.”

    In an answer and cross claim filed on Thursday, Paul alleged that Jake Greenbaum and Eduardo Ibanez, who worked on CryptoZoo and were also named in the class action lawsuit, were “con artists” who “sabotaged” the project. Paul also claimed while he lost “hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the duplicity and deceit of those he trusted,” Greenbaum and Ibanez pocketed “millions.”

    CryptoZoo, however, is dead. Paul posted that after “personally” spending $400,000 to complete it early last year, releasing it was unfeasible. He also reminded followers that the Zoo Token was created to support the game, and was never intended as an “investment vehicle,” so the buy-back is not intended to “compensate those who gambled on the crypto market and lost.”

    “Unfortunately, there are too many regulatory hurdles that would need to be cleared that I did not originally understand and would ultimately delay this buy-back even further,” he said. “This buy-back is a way for me to make whole those who intended to play CryptoZoo.”

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    Morgan Sung

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  • Andy Cohen Lost 'a Lot of Money' in Sophisticated Bank Scam | Entrepreneur

    Andy Cohen Lost 'a Lot of Money' in Sophisticated Bank Scam | Entrepreneur

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    These days, scams are more sophisticated than ever — and Andy Cohen just experienced it firsthand.

    On a recent episode of his Daddy Diaries podcast, the 55-year-old Radio Andy host opened up about recently being the victim of a scam, which began with an email from what appeared to be his bank’s fraud alert system.

    Related: Rising AI Threat Sounds Like Your Loved One on the Phone — But It’s Not Really Them

    It wasn’t completely unexpected, as Cohen had recently misplaced a debit card.

    “I did lose a card, and I put in for it, and I got an email saying, ‘There might be fraud on your account,’” Cohen said on the podcast. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is attached to the card I lost.’”

    Cohen logged into his bank account, but his alarm bells went off when he was prompted to enter his Apple ID and password. The host “bailed,” but it was too late — he believes that logging into his bank account on the site gave the scammers full access.

    @breakingtherules_pod Andy gets took for thousands on a bank wire fraud scam! #fyp #foryou #breakingtherulespodcast #bravo #andycphen #daddydiaries #wwhl #scam #bankfraud ♬ original sound – Breaking the Rules Pod

    “I leave the dentist, I get a call, and it shows up as the bank’s name, and they’re like ‘it’s fraud alert,’” Cohen says. “They were naming credits and charges I had made because they clearly had access to my account.”

    The scammers‘ number appeared legitimate thanks to caller ID hacking. Still, Cohen admits he should have asked to call them back or pay an in-person visit to the bank to sort things out. But he stayed on the line with the fraudster for over an hour, even entering numbers into his phone that set up call and message forwarding.

    As a result, when Cohen got off the line and dialed his actual fraud alert, “all of [his]calls were being forwarded to the scammer” — and so were all of the bank’s. “I go to the bank the next day, and these people wired out of two accounts a lot of money,” Cohen says.

    Related: A Scammer Tried to Come For My Small Business — and Yours Could Be Next. Here’s How to Protect Yourself

    Now, Cohen suggests anyone in a similar situation head directly to their bank branch to avoid the potential fraud — and take an extra close look at email addresses to make sure they’re genuine.

    Consumers reported losing $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, an increase of more than 30% year over year — and imposter scams were the most common, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

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    Amanda Breen

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  • American Scandal: Alexander Hamilton's Great Grandson Falls Prey to a Courtesan Con Artist | Entrepreneur

    American Scandal: Alexander Hamilton's Great Grandson Falls Prey to a Courtesan Con Artist | Entrepreneur

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    You’ve heard of Alexander Hamilton, the infamous American Founding Father whose face graces the $10 bill. More recently, he was the subject of a hit Broadway musical, thanks to actor/producer Lin Manuel-Miranda.

    But you may not be familiar with Alexander’s great-grandson, Robert Ray Hamilton, who was involved in a tabloid scandal that shocked the world during the Gilded Age.

    On the latest episode of Dirty Money, hosts Dan Bova and Jon Small talk to writer Bill Shaffer about his book “The Scandalous Hamiltons,” which tells the mostly forgotten tale of how Ray was tricked by a sex worker named Evangeline Steele into thinking he got her pregnant.

    Related: From Rags to Riches to Ruin: Inside the Twisted World of Con Man “Clark Rockefeller”

    The two met in a Manhattan brothel in 1885 and had a relationship for a few years. The conniving Steele purchased a baby at a so-called “Baby Farm,” where unwanted kids were brought to be adopted. Then she convinced Hamilton that the kid was his.

    Reluctantly, he agreed to marry her, bringing her into his wealthy family. It would seem that Steele had achieved the ultimate fairy tale. But this story is no real-life Pretty Woman.

    Listen to the podcast to find out what happened.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • Bitcoin is surging—what’s the prediction for crypto in 2024? – MoneySense

    Bitcoin is surging—what’s the prediction for crypto in 2024? – MoneySense

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    In Canada, spot bitcoin ETFs were approved in 2021. (The first North American bitcoin ETF, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, launched in February 2021.) However, approval of these funds in the U.S. holds greater significance due to the larger market size and broader investor accessibility. It would also signal crypto’s continued progress towards mainstream acceptance.

    Growing institutional interest in crypto

    Bitcoin is gaining mainstream acceptance, as institutional investors continue to warm up to cryptocurrencies, particularly BTC and ethereum (ETH). Bitcoin’s limited supply, its upcoming halving event (expected in April 2024), and the possibility of a spot bitcoin ETF have further added to the digital currency’s allure for institutional investors, which have poured more than $1 billion into BTC this year.

    Scarcity-seeking institutional investors are particularly enthused by the prospect of bitcoin halving, a process that halves the reward for mining, or validating, new blocks on bitcoin’s blockchain, thereby reducing the supply of the coin. A halving event happens once every four years and effectively makes the asset more attractive to investors.

    Falling bond yields

    Bitcoin’s fortunes are closely tied to U.S. bond yields. Bitcoin and bonds move in opposite directions due to their sensitivity to market sentiment regarding economic stability and inflation.

    The inverse relationship means that at a time when bond yields are trending lower, bitcoin prices are ticking higher. However, when yields are rising, as they did in the first half of the year, investors have less incentive to chase returns from other assets, including cryptocurrencies and equities.

    What to expect for bitcoin in 2024

    Looking forward, the consensus among analysts is overwhelmingly positive for bitcoin. However, their degrees of optimism and price forecasts vary widely. Some crypto watchers are expecting the digital currency to return to its 2021 all-time-high price of more than $69,000. Considerably wilder predictions for 2024 call for bitcoin to hit $120,000 and even $250,000.

    However, the usual warnings apply. Investors should proceed with cautious optimism. Any unforeseen geopolitical, financial or regulatory events could derail investor sentiment yet again and send bitcoin’s price tumbling, bringing with it the value of the broader crypto market. Crypto analysts remind investors that cryptocurrencies remain a risky bet.

    If the short history of bitcoin has proved anything, it is that the digital coin’s value tends to be highly volatile, and its fluctuations can wipe out millions of dollars in minutes. As a digital asset, bitcoin also continues to exhibit sharp sensitivity to a host of factors including, but not limited to, geopolitical events, regulatory oversight, high-profile lawsuits, crypto scams and cybercrime. Investors seeking to gain bitcoin exposure should invest only what they can afford to lose. To borrow from a universally acknowledged gambling caveat: know your limit, play within it.

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    Vikram Barhat

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  • Americans lose $100 million in Social Security scams

    Americans lose $100 million in Social Security scams

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    More than $100 million is lost each year due to Social Security scams, new figures from the Federal Trade Commission show.

    Already in 2023, the FTC has received reports of 164,413 government imposter scams, with social security scams being the most common of all. The Social Security Administration saw 38,852 reports, with a total of $101.58 million lost to government-impersonating fraudsters.

    And according to Drew Powers, the founder of Powers Financial Group, and a registered investment advisor in Naperville, Illinois, this likely doesn’t fully reflect the true prevalence of scams affecting seniors.

    “Elder financial abuse is a huge problem,” Powers told Newsweek. “Whatever the reported figure may be, the actual figure is likely much higher.”

    Instructor Lee Huber (L) helps 83-year-old Edward Jelen as he works on his laptop computer during an “Introduction to Microsoft Word” computer class at the State of Illinois building July 23, 2003 in Des Plaines, Illinois. Senior citizens are at an increased risk of losing money to Social Security schemes.
    Tim Boyle/Getty Images

    How AI Could Affect Social Security Scams

    Artificial intelligence poses a grave risk to seniors as they reach Social Security eligibility age, experts say.

    The advancement of AI is already worsening the situation for seniors, who have historically dealt with an onslaught of attacks by scammers looking to take advantage of their government benefits.

    “Seniors are at high risk for identity theft and fraud. The FBI‘s most recent Internet Crime Report shows that Americans over 60 lost $1.7 billion to fraud last year, the highest loss amount reported out of any age group,” Hari Ravichandran, chief executive officer and founder of online safety company Aura, told Newsweek. “Scammers are getting more and more sophisticated in how they use AI to impersonate voices and caller IDs, websites and emails, pretending to be trusted authorities and our loved ones – making this risk grow even more acute and urgent.”

    Because AI makes scams harder to detect, seniors are frequently led astray by messages that mimic the tone and style of legitimate organizations, including the Social Security Administration. Despite the craftiness of these tricks, Powers says scams still generally follow the same method.

    Scams Follow the Same Pattern

    Seniors can protect themselves by recognizing those patterns.

    “All scams follow the same patterns. An urgent opportunity or an urgent emergency, both triggering panic in the victim,” Powers said. “The best advice for seniors is to take a step back, compose themselves out of panic mode, and then take all possible steps to confirm the opportunity or emergency with others.”

    Some of these advanced scams are indicative of the digital age, routinely popping up on platforms like TikTok.

    The social media site is home to many fraud techniques such as celebrity impersonation scams, investment scams, fake giveaways and more,” Raj Dasgupta, the senior director of global advisory at BioCatch told Newsweek.

    And since seniors are likely to be more confused by the way TikTok functions, this ups the likelihood of them falling victim to a scam on the app.

    “Since those who have Social Security are likely to be retired, they may not have a steady source of income and may be eager to indulge in the false opportunity in hopes of improving their financial situation, which may lead to the opposite after falling for scams like this one,” Dasgupta said.

    However, for most seniors, that fear of losing potential money can make them more susceptible to these ploys.

    “There’s always an emotional element with these scams, with a sense of urgency deployed,” Dasgupta said. “Something like fear can make the elderly feel very vulnerable. Wanting something bad enough can also be a huge reason why people fall for these scams.”

    How To Avoid Scams

    Luckily, despite the growing capabilities of AI, there are still foolproof ways to avoid getting your Social Security payments taken away.

    “Beware of schemes that sound too good to be true,” Dasgupta said. “Don’t click links. Instead, go straight to the source and connect with that authority independently.”

    You should also stay cautious if someone asks you to tell them your personal information over the phone, as this is almost always a red flag, Dasgupta said.

    There are also ways to look out for identity theft, including by checking your credit report on a regular basis on sites like annualcreditreport.com.

    “If you don’t recognize an account on your report, you might have been a victim of identity theft,” Dasgupta said.