Neowin News Feed for: Fraud

Florida woman jailed over massive Microsoft "Genuine" Windows & Office activation key fraud

Sayan Sen — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:50:01 +0000

A Florida-based woman has been indicted over a massive fraud involving thousands of "Genuine" Windows and Office labels that often contain product activation keys. Read more...

Beware: Windows PCs are being sold with misleading storage specs on Amazon

Usama Jawad — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:10:01 +0000

Amazon sellers are quietly inflating Windows laptop storage by bundling OneDrive, and many buyers are missing the fine print. Read more...

Stop! Think! Verify! Four key steps to protect yourself from digital fraud

Paul Hill — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 16:00:01 +0000

AI is turbo-charging digital scams, making them harder to spot and increasing the threat. Learn the four critical defense habits—starting with the "pause habit"—to safeguard your money and data. Read more...

NVIDIA launches AI Blueprint to tackle credit card fraud

Fiza Ali — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 17:54:01 +0000

Projected $403 billion credit card fraud losses drive NVIDIA to unveil an AI Blueprint for financial institutions. Read more...

Apple says it saved users from losing $9 billion in fraudulent transactions

Aditya Tiwari — Tue, 27 May 2025 16:02:01 +0000

Apple has released its latest App Store fraud analysis report for 2024, revealing how it helped save users billions of dollars. Read more...

Google bolsters its anti-scam efforts across Asia-Pacific

Fiza Ali — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:22:01 +0000

In 2024, customers across Asia-Pacific lost 688 billion USD to scams. At Taiwan's Online Safety Dialogue, Google unveiled new partnerships, grants, and real-time tools to fight back. Read more...

Meta is cracking down on celebrity morphed fraud ads with facial recognition tech

Karthik Mudaliar — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 06:40:01 +0000

Meta is combating fraud ads that exploit celebrity images and mislead users into clicking on links that might lead to scams by bringing back facial recognition technology on its platforms. Read more...

Two men sentenced for $2.5M iPhone fraud scheme against Apple

Paul Hill — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 17:30:01 +0000

Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue sentenced for a scheme costing Apple $2.5M. Sun gets 57 months, Xue 54 months, plus hefty restitution payments for submitting fake iPhones. Read more...

No, your partner didn't cheat on you. Well, at least, when this email said so

Martin Hodás — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 16:02:01 +0000

The original sextortion e-mail scam has morphed into one that exploits your relationship insecurities. Read more...

Phishing attack uses fake donation websites to steal crypto from Trump voters

Martin Hodás — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:00:01 +0000

An ongoing phishing campaign targets Donald Trump supporters. It uses fake donation websites; however, the fact that it only accepts payments in crypto means its impact is limited. Read more...

For years, fake remote IT workers in U.S. companies were earning millions for North Korea

Martin Hodás — Sun, 19 May 2024 07:28:01 +0000

A fraudulent scheme benefiting the North Korean government used laptop farms and stolen identities to trick hundreds of US companies into unknowingly paying millions to North Korean remote IT workers. Read more...

Are you safe online? Which? consumer group exposes scam ads across major online platforms

Paul Hill — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:32:02 +0000

The UK-based consumer rights group, Which?, has exposed the scale of scam ads across major online platforms such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook. It called on companies to do more. Read more...

Deepfake-wielding fraudsters trick $25 million out of multinational

Paul Hill — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 04:24:01 +0000

Deepfake technology has been used to trick an employee at a multinational to authorize a $25.6 million transaction to fraudsters. The worker was invited to a call with several colleagues impersonated. Read more...

Scammers will actually pay you $2 for a single YouTube like, targeting your inner greediness

Martin Hodás — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 18:12:01 +0000

In a rather atypical YouTube scamming scheme you can actually get paid by cybercriminals. However, earning a few extra bucks can get you into trouble, as the cheats hope you come back for more. Read more...

Amazon customer surprised their £500 laptop was so light, found Weetabix inside

Sayan Sen — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 18:16:01 +0000

A customer ordered a new laptop from Amazon UK recently but was extremely surprised by how lightweight it was when they received the package. Turns out it had Weetabix inside it instead. Read more...

Mastercard has developed a new AI tool to prevent scams

Paul Hill — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 22:36:01 +0000

Mastercard has developed a new AI tool called Consumer Fraud Risk which helps banks to stop people from sending money to scammers. It could help prevent the loss of £100 million every year. Read more...

WhatsApp launches Security Center and redesigns its Android and iOS apps

Ishtiaqe Hanif — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 13:08:01 +0000

To raise awareness, WhatsApp introduces Security Center to its users, highlighting security measures it has in place and the resources available. It also brings some redesign to iOS and Android. Read more...

Apple's App Store prevented more than $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions in 2022

Steve Bennett — Tue, 16 May 2023 21:10:01 +0000

Apple has published a report that claims it prevented over $2 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions and rejected nearly 1.7 million submissions for not meeting the App Store standards. Read more...

Google Play says it prevented $2 billion in fraudulent transactions

Paul Hill — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 23:30:02 +0000

Google has managed to prevent $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions in 2022, the company has said. It outlined a few ways developers can take additional steps to further reduce fraud. Read more...

FTX "inner circle" member admits to wrongdoing in criminal investigation

Karthik Mudaliar — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 19:46:01 +0000

Nishad Singh, former FTX exec and part of the "inner circle" has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the SBF probe. Singh was involved in code writing, political donations, and fund transfers. Read more...

Sam Bankman-Fried fraud case: DOJ launches website for FTX victims

Paul Hill — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 04:50:01 +0000

The US Department of Justice has launched a website with contact details so that FTX victims can reach out. It could help Sam Bankman-Fried's victims recover the funds they lost access to on FTX. Read more...

India's telco authority plans to implement AI and ML-based solutions to curb SMS spam

Karthik Mudaliar — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 08:00:01 +0000

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is working to limit text message spam and financial frauds that occur over phone using artificial intelligence and machine learning models. Read more...

Former Apple employee found guilty of $17 million fraud

Steve Bennett — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 07:28:01 +0000

In a Californian court, a former Apple employee was found guilty of defrauding the company for a value of more than $17 million through theft, taking kickbacks, and inflating invoices. Read more...

Apple says it stopped fraudulent payments in 2021 that could have cost users $1.5 billion

Paul Hill — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 20:00:01 +0000

Apple has outlined the measures that it's taking to protect its customers from fraudulent payments and apps that contravene its policies in general such as those that contain spam or copy other apps. Read more...

Arkose Labs' security report shows entry level fraudsters make $20k a month

Christopher White — Wed, 18 May 2022 09:00:02 +0000

Want to make between $20k and $600k a month? Apparently you can if you don't mind breaking international law and risking heavy jail time. Learn how to protect yourself against cybersecurity threats. Read more...

Microsoft and Mastercard partner to announce "next-gen" identity solution

Usama Jawad — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:56:01 +0000

Microsoft and Mastercard have announced enhancements to the latter's Digital Transactions Insights solution, which now has "next-gen" identity verification and real-time decision-making capabilities. Read more...

Google is waging a legal war against pet scams

Usama Jawad — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 06:16:01 +0000

Google has confirmed that it has shut down an infamous operator running online pet scams. The company is also waging a legal war against online fraud and has shared some guidance on how to stay safe. Read more...

FBI report shows people still falling for tech support scams, Malwarebytes shows how

Sayan Sen — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 17:46:01 +0000

Losses to tech support scams has increased nearly two and a half times in 2021 according to FBI's latest 2021 internet crime report. Malwarebytes demonstrates how the scammers fool potential victims. Read more...

Meta sued for allowing fraudulent crypto ads

Usama Jawad — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 13:26:01 +0000

An Australian regulator has sued Meta for allowing fraudulent ads showing celebrities promoting cryptocurrencies to run rampant on Facebook. One person reportedly lost almost $500,000. Read more...

NFTs Worth $1.9M ‘seized' in tax fraud investigation a first for crypto-asset seizures

Alap Naik Desai — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 21:24:01 +0000

The HMRC in the UK has claimed that it "seized" Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) as part of a tax evasion and fraud case, amounting to $1.9 million, making this the first-ever crypto-asset seizure. Read more...

Gift Card scams involving web-crawling bots rising exponentially, but can you avoid them?

Alap Naik Desai — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 20:22:01 +0000

As customers shop online, gift card scams have gone up substantially. Scammers are even using WebCrawler bots to extract money, which means people might be gifting cards with zero balance Read more...

UK phone networks to block foreign internet phone calls to fight spam

Paul Hill — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 14:10:01 +0000

Ofcom has asked phone networks to block internet calls from abroad posing with UK numbers. It hopes that it will make a dent in the number of spam calls that people in the UK receive. Read more...

AWS adds new Amazon Fraud Detector to fight fraud

Paul Hill — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 22:14:01 +0000

AWS has launched a new tool called Amazon Fraud Detector. It said the tool will be able to detect and prevent payment and identity fraud in just milliseconds thanks to machine learning. Read more...

EE launches Digital Identity platform to prevent fraud

Paul Hill — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 15:30:01 +0000

EE has announced its new Digital Identity platform that consists of a number of tools to prevent the instances of fraud. The firm is working with banks to help make their systems more secure. Read more...

Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and other prominent Twitter accounts hacked for Bitcoin scam [Update]

Abhay V — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 21:22:01 +0000

Twitter accounts of prominent personalities and Bitcoin exchange companies were compromised earlier today. The hackers linked to a phishing website that siphoned off close to $25,000 already. Read more...

Free Download: CEO Fraud Prevention Manual

News Staff — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 19:00:01 +0000

CEO fraud has victimized more than 22,000 organizations and is responsible for over $3 billion in losses. Find out how you can create a human firewall to prevent it with this manual. Read more...

Research by Microsoft reveals half of U.K. Millennials have lost money to tech scams

Paul Hill — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 09:44:01 +0000

Microsoft has released the results of a new survey that showed Millennials are most likely to have fallen victim to a tech support scam despite 75% claiming to be advanced experts with technology. Read more...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk charged with fraud over misleading claim on firm's share value

Ruel Revales — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 05:28:01 +0000

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is suing Elon Musk for fraud, alleging that the Tesla CEO misled investors when he tweeted about taking his company private at $420 a share. Read more...

£503.4 million lost to fraud and scams in first half of 2018

Ruel Revales — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 07:58:01 +0000

Smuggling or drug trafficking criminals have stolen over £500 million from bank accounts in the U.K. through fraud and scams in the first half of 2018. Those criminals used data from breach incidents. Read more...

Intel's chip security leads to investigation on behalf of investors

John Keefer — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 17:26:02 +0000

The vulnerabilities in Intel's processors and the subsequent drop in stock price has led a securities fraud attorney to launch a probe of Intel's officers that could lead to a class action suit. Read more...