Scams use deception to steal money, credentials, or sensitive data, making them a cybersecurity risk for individuals and organizations.
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Background for this topic.
Scams are deceptive schemes intended to make people surrender money, credentials, sensitive information, or access. In information security, they commonly use phishing messages, impersonation, fraudulent websites, business-email compromise, fake technical support, or malicious attachments. Their defining feature is manipulation: the attacker creates a credible pretext and pressures the target to act before verifying the request.
Security teams should treat scams as an attack surface spanning email, messaging, telephone calls, social media, and payment workflows. Material risks include account takeover through stolen credentials, unauthorized payments, disclosure of personal or company data, and malware execution from deceptive content. Useful controls include phishing-resistant authentication, secure payment-change procedures with independent verification, filtering and domain protections, user training focused on reporting, and rapid review of suspicious messages or transactions. Incident handling may require revoking sessions, resetting credentials, contacting financial institutions, preserving evidence, and notifying affected parties where applicable.
Weekly headline count for the current query.
U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged a New York man and woman for their roles in a large-scale crime ring that laundered money stolen in cyber investment fraud scams. [...]
UK authorities charged five people following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into Russian Coms, a major caller ID spoofing platform used by criminals to make over 1.8 million scam calls. [...]
Business Email Compromise is more than an email scam. It's a coordinated operation involving compromised accounts, financial research, and cash-out networks. Flare explores how underground forums reveal how BEC attacks are planned and executed. [...]
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned that Americans lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with reported losses nearly tripling since 2020. [...]
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned that criminals are using couriers to collect money from victims of cryptocurrency investment scams, also known as pig butchering or romance baiting. [...]
Google is introducing a new Android security feature that will detect and flag phone calls in which scammers use artificial intelligence to impersonate a user's personal contacts. [...]
The FBI says Americans have lost over $388 million last year to scams using cryptocurrency kiosks, also known as crypto ATMs or Bitcoin ATMs. [...]
Android 17, expected to roll out next month, will introduce several security and privacy features focused on device theft, threat detection, and banking scam calls. [...]
Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a large-scale fraud operation that uses Telegram's Mini App feature to run crypto scams, impersonate well-known brands, and distribute Android malware. [...]
A joint international operation involving U.S. and Chinese authorities arrested at least 276 suspects and shut down nine cryptocurrency investment fraud centers. [...]
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned of a massive increase in losses from social media scams since 2020, exceeding $2.1 billion in 2025. [...]
Fraud operations now operate like call centers, complete with hiring, training, and performance tracking. Flare reveals how cybercriminals manage "Caller-as-a-Service" operations like a professional sales team. [...]
Apple account change notifications are being abused to send fake iPhone purchase phishing scams within legitimate emails sent from Apple's servers, increasing legitimacy and potentially allowing them to bypass spam filters. [...]
U.S. victims lost nearly $21 billion to cyber-enabled crimes last year, driven primarily by investment scams, business email compromise, tech support fraud, and data breaches, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says. [...]
Scammers are sending fake "Notice of Default" traffic violation text messages impersonating state courts across the U.S., pressuring recipients to scan a QR code that leads to a phishing site demanding a $6.99 payment while stealing personal and financial information. [...]
The United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has sanctioned Xinbi, a Chinese-language cryptocurrency-based online marketplace that sells stolen data and satellite internet equipment to scam networks in Southeast Asia. [...]
Customers of upscale department store chain Nordstrom received fraudulent messages from a legitimate company email address that promoted cryptocurrency scams disguised as a St. Patrick's Day promotion. [...]
Meta is introducing new anti-scam protections across its platforms, deploying systems and user-facing warnings to protect users against scammers. [...]
A Ghanaian national pleaded guilty to his role in a massive fraud ring that stole over $100 million from victims across the United States through business email compromise attacks and romance scams. [...]
Compromised cPanel credentials are being sold in bulk across underground channels as plug-and-play phishing and scam infrastructure. Flare explains how analyzing 200,000 underground posts reveals a commoditized market for hacked site management panels. [...]