July 2008 Archives

Here at Scambusters, we regularly report heartbreaking stories that seem almost unbelievable because of both how easily the victims get fooled and the sheer nerve the scammers display. Sadly, they are true, and these con merchants get away with their tricks, often leaving their victims many thousands of dollars poorer.

We have just such a tale to report in this week's Scamlines news roundup, when a Seattle woman loses a small fortune after falling for a totally implausible story from a woman she meets in a parking lot.

In another twist on the heartbreak theme, a scammer claims to be the devastated father of a US soldier killed in Iraq, offering his son's car for a tiny fraction of its real value.

We also bring you news of a cheeky cell phone thief, a police bust of a store-card scam and a new phishing warning from the IRS.

After highlighting the scale of scamming in Australia - $1B of fraud every year -- in last week's Scamlines, we take a closer look this week at what's happening "down under".

We discover that some of the well-known scams stateside and in Europe are now hitting Australian shores. Plus, they're grappling with new scams of their very own -- like the self-lighting cigarette con.

We also discover two new scams running this week in a single Oregon town, the return of the Grandparents Scam in two different US locations, a new outbreak of the Real Estate Title Scam, another mortgage trick and the remarkable story of a victim who paid a fortune for a share in the unseen contents of a money bag.

Since this week's issue of Scambusters was about specific news of the past week or two, we're going to keep this issue of Scamlines short.

We have the low-down on a new front-door phishing expedition in Texas, bogus fund-raising teens in Boston, a sneaky trick criminals use to get those precious printed security digits off the back of credit cards and the latest fraud numbers from Australia. Check it out...

Banks, law firms, investment companies and other businesses all show themselves to be easy targets for con artists who take them for an expensive ride in this week's roundup of the latest scam headlines.

We also turn up two new variations of travel scams that use phony coupons and stolen credit cards to hook their victims, a new 809 scam, and a clever trick a blogger dreamed up to get his readers to do all his promotional work for him.

In total, we have 10 news scams for you this week -- including the curious case of the conman who claimed he worked for the Pope!