Neowin News Feed for: Scams

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...

Google's charitable arm pumps $5 million to fight online scams in Asia Pacific region

Aditya Tiwari — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 16:26:01 +0000

Amid rising online scams, Google's charitable arm has announced multi-million dollar funding to fight scams in the APAC region. Read more...

Unofficial Windows reinstaller app locks you out of your Windows 11 PC until you pay

Sayan Sen — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:42:01 +0000

Users need to be aware of an unofficial Windows reinstallation app that does not let the victims use their PC unless they pay. Read more...

FBI: Scammers now using AI voices to impersonate government officials

David Uzondu — Fri, 16 May 2025 06:20:02 +0000

Generative AI is powerful, but it's also being misused for scams and misinformation. The FBI has issued a PSA warning about deepfake audio impersonating government officials. Read more...

Microsoft shares detailed guidance for AI scams that are nearly impossible to not fall for

Sayan Sen — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:28:01 +0000

Microsoft has published a detailed guidance on ways to deal with modern AI-powered scams that are really difficult to detect. Read more...

Google stopped 5.1 billion rogue ads from reaching users, fired millions of bad accounts

Aditya Tiwari — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 14:04:01 +0000

The search giant suspended millions of ad accounts and took action against billions of bad advertisements before they were served to users. Read more...

Meta warns users on how to stay safe from 'Romance Scams' across its platforms

Sagar Naresh Bhavsar — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:56:01 +0000

Meta has highlighted the various tools it offers on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp that can help users avoid romance scams. Read more...

Consumer group warns ChatGPT and Bard can professionalize scams

Paul Hill — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 12:40:01 +0000

Which? has warned that it's relatively easy to get ChatGPT and Bard to craft text for scam emails and text messages. Its warning comes just days before the UK is set to host a summit on AI safety. 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...

Don't believe everything you hear: AI voice scams rising with 25% of adults affected

Paul Hill — Tue, 02 May 2023 12:28:01 +0000

A new report from McAfee highlights the dangers of AI-generated voice fakes that are being used by malicious actors to scam money out of people. People are encouraged to use codewords with contacts. Read more...

UK phone companies will have to identify and block spoofed calls

Paul Hill — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 13:06:01 +0000

Ofcom is introducing new rules that will force phone companies to do more to block spoofed calls. The rules will start being enforced from May 2023 after companies implement measures. Read more...

Scammers used Ethereum's switch to proof-of-stake to steal millions of dollars

Paul Hill — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 20:16:02 +0000

The Ethereum Merge that took place in September led to scams rising significantly, according to Chainalysis. The countries most affected by the scams were the United States and India. Read more...

YouMail: Americans received 50.5 billion robocalls last year, higher than in 2020

Paul Hill — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 07:44:01 +0000

The robocall blocking firm, YouMail, said that Americans received a whopping 50.5 billion robocalls in 2021. This figure was down from 2019 but up from 2020. 42% of the calls were scam calls. Read more...

Chainalysis: Cryptocurrency crime hit an all-time high last year

Paul Hill — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 18:32:02 +0000

New data from Chainalysis shows that illicit cryptocurrency funds reached an all-time high in 2021, totalling $14 billion. Scams were the largest source of these illicit funds followed by theft. 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...

Google launches website to help detect and stop scams

João Carrasqueira — Thu, 28 May 2020 11:26:01 +0000

As the number of scams continues to rise, Google has announced a partnership with the Cybercrime Support Network to create a website that offers examples and tips on how to identify them. Read more...

Facebook sues Indian citizen over deceptive ads that link to coronavirus scams

Usman Khan Lodhi — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 03:44:02 +0000

The California based firm said in the lawsuit that the ads run by the company baited its users. Moreover, Google, Shopify, WordPress have also been targeted through "cloaking", the lawsuit alleges. 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...

FTC temporarily shuts down tech support company that bilked $120 million from consumers

Timi Cantisano — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 01:10:01 +0000

The FTC and the state of Florida have shut down bogus tech support companies involved in scamming $120 million USD from unknowing consumers. Read more...

Trivia Tuesday: Security Nightmares

Tyler Holman — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:53:31 +0000

We all know 'em, and we all hate 'em: viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and malware of any kind. From their origins in science fiction to Flame, Trivia Tuesday delves into your security nightmares. Read more...

Microsoft survey reveals emerging Internet scams conducted over phones

Denis Wong — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:18:10 +0000

A recent Microsoft survey reveals that scammers are turning to traditional telephone landlines for baiting their victims to hand over money, instead of relying solely on phishing emails or fake advertisements on websites. The survey... Read more...

Two-thirds of phishing scams target single US bank

Daniel Fleshbourne — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 10:36:08 +0000

Customers of the Fifth Third Bank in America were the most at risk from phishing attacks in August, according to figures from antivirus firm McAfee. The top two institutions targeted in August accounted for a... Read more...

Microsoft, Nigeria Team to End Scams

Daniel Fleshbourne — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:00:00 +0000

The Nigerian government and Microsoft signed an agreement Friday calling for the software giant to help law enforcement break up crime rings that use the Internet for fraud and theft. It's the first-ever agreement Microsoft... Read more...

Katrina e-mail scams emerge

Sat, 03 Sep 2005 09:46:27 +0000

Computer users are being urged to be on guard for a bogus e-mail that pretends to offer news updates about Hurricane Katrina as a means to infect their PCs. The malicious e-mail gives a brief... Read more...

Top Five Scams

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:16:38 +0000

PC World has published a list of the top five online scams affecting Americans. Research firm Gartner believes nearly 10 million were hit online by fraudsters in the past year. There's nothing hugely surprising in... Read more...

Microsoft touts 'Sender ID' to fight spam, scams

Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:06:53 +0000

Microsoft on Thursday is holding a summit with members of the E-Mail Service Provider Coalition to address the use of Sender ID technology as a standard to fight spam and phishing. The... Read more...

'Phishing' scams reel in your identity

Tue, 22 Jul 2003 19:44:39 +0000

The Web sites look real and the information sought seems justified. But it's really the latest form of e-mail scam, called "brand spoofing," "carding" or "Phishing." The official-looking messages tell recipients that,... Read more...

ID Theft and Web Scams Top Consumer Complaints

Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:50:48 +0000

Internet scams, including bogus auctions and deceptive Web and computer services, joined identity theft among the top consumer fraud complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2001, the U.S. agency said Wednesday. ... Read more...