Recently in Scamlines Category

Real estate and identify theft scams provide the main focus for our new round-up of the scam headlines.

We have the latest figures on the scale of ID theft in the US and news of a sneaky trick using parking tickets to try to steal people's personal details. Phony jobs are also back on the scene, again as a route to getting hold of private information.

Among our real estate stories, we have a report of a scam that used forged home ownership documents to prey on victims and a worthless circular that supposedly details a free land giveaway.

In addition, there's a new tax refund trick about, a letter that tries to get parents to pay a fee for a student aid application, and the embarrassing story of how one state handed over $2.5m to scammers.

Our first couple of headlines for this latest collection of scam stories draw attention to a disturbing trend in the world of fraud -- when organizations lose, or even knowingly give away, personal information that can be used in identity theft. And we reveal how one federal department decided to test its employees on this with a spoof email.

We also have the lowdown on two new phishing tricks, an explanation of a scam that goes by the name of "dugo-dugo", a warning about bogus fire inspections, and a distressing tale of church pastors who learned the hard way that nothing is really free.

And we round off with an amusing hoax story -- not really a malicious scam, but certainly an interesting test of people's gullibility.

It's disheartening to have to start this week's round-up of the scam headlines with another tale of family heartbreak revolving around a non-existent inheritance, the so called the 419 or Nigerian scam.

But we do so because it's clear people are still falling for this evil trick and we want to do all we can to help put a stop to it and prevent more misery.

We also have news of a couple of very widespread scams -- low level credit card charges and a piece of malware believed to have infected more than 3 million computers.

There's a new type of ID theft attack targeting seniors, a malware warning for BlackBerry users and a report of a clever business scam in which a conman convinced firms to buy rubbish metal from him.

Then there's our sting-in-the-tail -- literally. It's the story of the lobster and the crab.

When might it be acceptable, even worthwhile, to scam someone? Never, we hear you say. How about when it's the cops fooling a bunch of crooks?

That's the subject of our lead-off story in this first Scamlines issue of 2009. And it make for heartening news.

Sadly, that's where the good news ends. As we already predicted several times, scammers are using the downturn in the economy to trick people into giving away their financial details or paying for non-existent or unnecessary services.

We also have word of a new lottery scam in Australia, phony monks in Cambodia, and a bogus pay-off for Nigerian scam victims.

Plus, there's the mystery of the Massachusetts hoaxer who wants to make drivers see red. Let's begin...

Proof, if it were needed, that even the most experienced and respectable of investors can be hoodwinked by a well-designed investment scam comes this month with the collapse of a huge so-called Ponzi scheme in New York.

It's the talk of Wall Street and investment centers worldwide, with losses said to be around $50 billion. We bring you the story in this latest round up of the scam headlines.

We've also picked up on several new phishing and ID theft cons currently in play, a warning on fake Nintendo game consoles, and news of bogus utility workers hoping to cash in on the cold weather.

Then there's the story of the supposed passed-out poisonous business card that's supposed to make you pass out.

As we never tire of pointing out, not all scams are illegal. Take this week's main story for example, where high schoolers are fooled into paying for expensive trips believing they've been invited to the Presidential inauguration.

The trick is to mislead by implying one thing but then to put the truth in the small print.

But most deceptions are just barefaced fraud and lies, though they usually come dressed up with plausible lines -- like the ID thief who sweet-talked his victims with flowers and wine or the tale of the "Great Gas Giveaway" reported below.

These and yet another costly Nigerian overpayment con and two seasonal holiday scams, are among the tricks to be on the lookout for -- wherever you are -- reported in our latest roundup of the scam headlines.

Even after recently running our Scambusters article about the latest Nigerian-type scams, we were amazed this week to come across yet two more heart-breaking stories in which victims lost a small fortune, $400,000 in one case -- and probably a good deal of their dignity and self-esteem.

The villains will stop at nothing and just keep asking for more and more money, as the first two stories in our round-up of the latest scam headlines show.

We also have the lowdown on a cheap drugs scam that delivers a double blow to victims and new outbreaks of familiar frauds -- the economic stimulus check and the auto warranty tricks.

And if you've received a tempting offer of cut-price tickets for January's Presidential inaugural bash, we've got news for you -- they're free. If you can get them.

In desperate times, people do desperate things. And that makes them sitting ducks for fraudsters, as this week's top story from the scam headlines shows. Investors are duped into losing up to $2 billion in schemes promising huge returns.

We also show how scammers use the names of official organizations and legitimate firms to fool people into downloading malware or part with confidential information.

Plus, we've news of a bogus flight-booking email, a scam that hits fast food company Wendy's and the strange story of the winners who turn down their prizes.

It's been a good news / bad news kind of week in the world of Internet crime. First, the good news: A huge, online forum trading in stolen passwords and other information is shut down by the FBI.

But the bad news: In separate studies, researchers show how easy it is to turn a computer into a "zombie" and how feasible it is to capture key strokes using simple electronic eavesdropping equipment.

Also in this week's round-up of the scam headlines, we warn of a conman who travels the US telling tall stories, a highly organized checks scam and a phishing expedition that hauled in a super-catch.

Confusion is a scammer's best friend. They prey on seniors and other vulnerable people who may not be fully switched on to what's happening around them.

For evidence, in this week's roundup of the scam headlines we take the lid off the global scale of so-called grandparent scams, and we show how crooks are also using the current banking crisis as a lever for crime.

We also have reports of a phony Microsoft security update, a new prize-winning trick linked to "miracle cure" pills and a bogus credit con using doctored gift cards.

And then there's the bogus book-seller who tried to scam a police chief's wife.

Maybe it's because we're almost at Halloween that our weekly search through the scam headlines turned up a couple of interesting stories about people who've passed over to the other side.

But there's more scary stuff from the living too. We report on two recent home rental scams, including a couple of incidents where owners return from vacation to find renters have moved in!

We also have news of an attack on 10,000 users of a social networking service, a new trick for bilking car renters -- and a $236m judgment against spammers.

Today we begin with a really low scam from people whose homes are in foreclosure. We also have a couple new variations of long-practiced scams and news of how a group of would-be money savers were tricked into paying a fortune for groceries and a supposedly free refrigerator.

Plus, we've the story of the Florida snake-charmers who spray their "snowbird" victims then rob them.

It's no surprise that identity theft is the number one fear of most Americans. As this week's roundup of the scam headlines shows, ID thieves are everywhere and they don't care about their targets -- even when these victims are already down on their luck.

We also bring you news of a new version of a scam known as "clickjacking", which all web browsers are vulnerable to, plus a "clever" scam for getting someone else to pay for cell phone credits.

And then there's the real dirty distraction trick which robbed a customer of $10,000 -- while he was in the bank!

The Russians are coming. No, seriously. That's the word among email security and spam experts. A flood of malicious email from Russia is turning up in inboxes all over the world, most notably in the US.

We have more details in this week's roundup of the scam headlines. Plus, talking of floods, we're sorry but not surprised to discover that the Hurricane Ike scams we recently warned about are already adding to the misery of storm victims in a big way.

Also in this week's Scamlines, we report on new laws to hit back at identity thieves, a sneaky camera trick to capture PIN numbers and, staying with the camera theme, a conspiracy in Italy that leads to thousands of motorists being photographed driving through stop lights.

And how about being tricked into paying for someone else's soda? We've got that covered too.

Americans could be paying $30 billion a year to scammers, if recent crime reports from Britain are anything to go by.

There's a big item in our review of this week's scam stories that also points a finger at the most likely tricks people fall for.

Plus there are a whole rash of blatant phishing and virus infection attempts among this week's scam news headlines. Some of them are convincing; others are simply outrageous.

And for a cheek-of-the-week scam, read about the mom who pretended she was her daughter so she could go back to school.

The hitman scam is certainly one -- if not the -- scariest scam out there. This week, a new version has surfaced that installs malware on victims' computers. And in this week's roundup of the scam headlines we have news of six other con tricks to be on the lookout for.

It's a possession prized by many but, as this week's Scamlines report demonstrates, the coveted iPhone is also the target of scammers stretching from Singapore to Nigeria.

Plus, in this week's roundup of the scam headlines, we bring news of a return of the widespread hitman scam, a con in which fake winning lottery tickets are sold to victims, and a sneaky trick to make you pay for something you don't want.

And, for a sting in the tail, we report from Canada on how over-enthusiastic police officers condemned a fund-raising effort on their behalf as a scam -- when it wasn't!

Three unusual angles on the world of Nigerian scams emerge in this week's roundup of the latest fraud and hoax news. There's the Nigerian diplomat who wants scam victims arrested alongside the crooks. And then we have news of two cons inside Nigeria itself -- something you rarely hear about.

Our scan of the scam headlines also turns up two cases of well-known names used to con people out of money, a new rash of concert ticket scams and a warning about phony investment deals in the UK.

Plus, just to balance things up a bit, we thought it'd be worthwhile making the point that scammers -- or alleged scammers -- don't always get away with it. We take a quick look at some of the latest arrests and convictions.

Nobody follows the news more closely than scammers. Special events, reports of tragedies and other incidents fire up the criminal mind. It seems that for every news story there's a matching scam -- a plausible opportunity to rip-off the public.

In this week's round-up of the scam headlines, we show how three news items are being exploited to try to con people either out of money or their confidential information.

We also have the lowdown on two bare-faced cons where the criminals just ask victims to leave their money for collection outside their homes. Plus, we've news of a big phishing attack masquerading as a Hotmail security alert and a con-trick that offers you a driver's license that can never be suspended.

Two large-scale global scams have hit the headlines during the past couple of weeks, underlining the scale of card card number theft and Internet fraud.

First, we have the disclosure that tens of millions of debit and credit card numbers have been stolen by an international gang and used to withdraw huge sums of money.

Second, after ripping off victims to the tune of millions of dollars for bogus, non-existent tickets to the Beijing Olympic Games, scammers are still hard at it trying to exploit the global popularity of the event to their advantage.

Scamlines readers won't have fallen for the tickets scam because we warned about it long ago. Now we're updating you with news of their latest, insidious tricks.

Also among this week's round up of the scam headlines, we have reports of tricksters who claim they've found missing persons and the story of a restaurant owner who handed over $4,000 cash to a man in a parking lot and never saw him again.