phishing scams

Google, Facebook and other big tech companies are jointly designing a system for combating email scams known as phishing. Such scams try to trick people into giving away passwords and other personal information by sending emails that look as if they come from a legitimate bank, retailer or other business.

Five members of an international cyber-crime ring were convicted on federal charges for their part in a phishing scheme that fooled consumers into revealing personal information that was then used to siphon their bank accounts. The five scammers found guilty by a federal jury were among 53...

A texting scam aimed at the unemployed tells them to call a telephone number for assistance with unemployment paperwork. When consumers call, they're asked to enter their unemployment debit card number before being transferred, said Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt in a statement. This is...

A good con is like a magic trick. Those best thought out (think of The Spanish Prisoner) stand the test of time, and can be recycled generation after generation. What makes a con work? Human nature. By applying psychology, criminals achieve predictable results most of the time. High-tech giant...

Federal Express does not want your Social Security number. Neither does UPS. Customers have reported receiving emails claiming to be from the shipping companies, warning them that a package went undelivered and asking for information. Or they're sent a link to print out, but instead it downloads a...

A new e-mail phishing scam is making its rounds among users of the professional networking site LinkedIn. The Better Business Bureau and Cisco are reporting that LinkedIn users have received suspicious e-mails indicating they have new invitations to connect and new messages awaiting their...

Facebook users: You might want to resist the urge to click on any links that begin with "OMG." You could find yourself using the expression after realizing the link is actually the latest phishing scam to hit the popular social networking site. In this scam, users are tricked with a message that...

The Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota reports consumers have been receiving fraudulent confirmation e-mails claiming to originate from the online shoe retailer Zappos. In a public statement on the incident, the BBB calls these e-mails "suspicious." Consumers are advised not to...

The Better Business Bureau reports the circulation of a fraudulent e-mail that appears to be using the BBB's name to lure business owners into a scam. The e-mail, which comes from the fake address seatac@bbb.org,appears to be a notification about a complaint filed against the company. The subject...

Scams don't discriminate. There's one for every group and every situation -- the Gulf oil spill, the Haiti earthquake and people of all ages. But seniors seem to be a particularly favorite target and lately, state and federal agencies have issued warning after warning that the crooks are after the...