#fraudwatch

We’ve all experienced our phones ringing off the hook with a barrage of telemarketing calls. While these calls can be a real nuisance, some are far worse. Scammers use the latest telemarketing technology to rip off victims to the tune of millions of dollars each year. The threat of financial loss is especially great for older Americans living off of their retirement nest eggs.

How do scammers reap more than $9.5 million with phony pop-up ads or blinking alerts warning of a crippling computer virus or security problems?

As the April 18 filing deadline looms, a new wave of tax scams is heating up. Whether you’ve already filed your 2016 return — and especially if not — here’s how to protect yourself from these last-minute schemes currently making the rounds.

College students are ideal victims for identity theft, with clean or nonexistent credit histories ripe for exploitation … and often clueless about their risks and value to scammers.

Fraud is a growing problem across the U.S., with more than 1.2 million fraud-related complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network (CSN) in 2015 alone. Among those complaints, a total of $765 million was lost by consumers who fell victim to scams, according to CSN’s February 2016 data book.

AARP Fraud Watch Network  warns holiday shoppers of package delivery theft

AARP Fraud Watch Network  warns holiday shoppers of Wi-Fi network risks

AARP Fraud Watch Network  warns holiday shoppers of debit card risks

If you have money, scammers have a way to take it from you. Con artists talk about getting their victims so emotionally charged up that they are unable to think logically. They call it "under the ether," and it is how they play on hope, fear and empathy to defraud their victims.

The scam is sometimes deceptively simple, as easy as stealing a credit card offer from your trash. Other times it can be far more complex, like the infamous con preying on worried grandparents. No matter the form, the impact is devastating. Identity theft, investment fraud and scams rob millions of Americans - last year there were 12.6 million victims of identity theft alone.