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.
The U.S. Department of Justice has seized more than $225 million in cryptocurrency linked to investment fraud and money laundering operations, the largest crypto seizure in the history of the U.S. Secret Service. [...]
The DuckDuckGo web browser has expanded its built-in Scam Blocker tool to protect against a broader range of online scams, including fake e-commerce, cryptocurrency exchanges, and "scareware" sites. [...]
Paddle.com and its U.S. subsidiary will pay $5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegations that the company facilitated deceptive tech-support schemes that harmed many U.S. consumers, including older adults. [...]
Instagram ads impersonating financial institutions like Bank of Montreal (BMO) and EQ Bank (Equitable Bank) are being used to target Canadian consumers with phishing scams and investment fraud. Some ads use AI-powered deepfake videos in an attempt to collect your personal information, while others drive traffic to phishing pages. [...]
Instagram ads impersonating financial institutions like Bank of Montreal (BMO) and EQ Bank (Equitable Bank) are being used to target Canadian consumers with phishing scams and investment fraud. Some ads use AI-powered deepfake videos in an attempt to collect your personal information, while others drive traffic to phishing pages. [...]
Instagram ads impersonating financial institutions like Bank of Montreal (BMO) and EQ Bank (Equitable Bank) are being used to target Canadian consumers with phishing scams and investment fraud. Some ads use AI-powered deepfake videos in an attempt to collect your personal information, while others drive traffic to phishing pages. [...]