Author Archives: virginiasmp

I’ve been writing and talking about internet scams for most of the past three decades, and what I know is this: It’s a great time to be a criminal. Thanks to the web, email and social media, it’s never been easier to find enormous pools of potential victims. And thanks to FinTech — financial technologyContinue reading “6 Tales of Real-Life Scams”

Scammers are always creating new and improved lookalike websites to trick you out of your personal information and money. These websites may have a very similar URL or look nearly identical to the real website you are searching for, which means they can be hard to identify. Recent examples of this kind of scam includeContinue reading “How to identify a fake website”

People spend billions of dollars a year on products and treatments in the hope of improving their health and fitness. But a lot of that money goes to companies that make fake claims about those products and treatments, cheating people out of their money, their time — even their health. If you’re thinking about buyingContinue reading “Common Health Scams”

With the warmer weather and summer storms, roofing scams become more common. BBB Scam Tracker frequently receives reports of shady “free” roof inspections. Homeowners should be on the lookout for these cons. (Read More)

NBC News was given an exclusive look into the Department of Justice headquarters as a strike force investigates telemedicine fraud growing to new levels. Telemedicine has made health care more accessible during the pandemic, but hundreds of rules for Medicaid and Medicare were relaxed. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite says that also led toContinue reading “The Surge in Telemedicine Fraud During the Pandemic”

April kicks off Financial Literacy Month, which is often about managing your money and building savings. But this month, we want to talk about protecting what you have, and what you’re building, from scammers. Scammers are good at what they do. They target people of all backgrounds, ages, and income levels with sophisticated ways toContinue reading “It’s Financial Literacy Month: Protect Yourself from Scammers”

The weather is warming in some parts of the country, inspiring people to clean up or clear out cluttter. The one area many people overlook isn’t the corner of a room or a forgotten closet; it’s the probably the digital device on which you’re reading this article. We use our phones to shop, scroll throughContinue reading “Give Yourself a Spring Digital Makeover”