The last few days have been a field day for scam sleuths like me, Scotty, and if you’ve been online at all, you know why: it’s Scams Awareness Week 2025, which means everyone’s on high alert for frauds that’ll make your phone, your accounts, and maybe even your grandma’s retirement fund tremble. Romance scams are still going strong, with crooks spinning elaborate fake love stories online and then inventing emergencies to squeeze money out of folks who just want to believe in a little digital magic. Stop. Check. Protect. That’s the theme from the ACCC’s campaign, and honestly, those three words need to be your password to the internet right now.

If you’re hungry for scam news hotter than a fresh ransomware attack, get this: U.S. authorities just busted an $8.8 million fraud ring targeting the elderly. The ring unraveled after a single suspicious transfer triggered Synchrony Bank’s alarms, and it turns out insiders at a Maryland bank—like Antonio Penn—were selling real customer data on Telegram. From there, it was a masterclass in money laundering. The crazy part? Victims did nothing but trust their bank—proving the worst scams don’t always start with a sketchy link. Sometimes the danger’s already inside the vault. The Polk County Sheriff, Grady Judd, said this wasn’t a small-time job, and considering over 235 people were burned, you can see why.

If you’re shopping online, Amazon keeps repeating: they’ll never ask for payments via phone or email, gift cards aren’t required, and if somebody tries to rush you, that’s a red flag the size of a phishing net. In Australia, over $147 million has been lost to scams this year alone—phishing is still the phishing king, but fake online stores, urgent sales pitches, and blatant impersonation of government agencies remain evergreen ways to separate you from your cash.

And it’s not all anonymous hackers. Just this week, Frisco’s own Jessica Bahu was arrested after impersonating the FBI to steal over $25K in life savings from a senior couple in Garland, Texas. She dressed the part, met them in a parking lot, and convinced them to hand over envelopes of cash. Spoiler: the real FBI doesn’t ask you to meet them in remote parking lots.

Rounding out the scam parade, the Scattered Spider hacking group just got their webs cut. Noah Michael Urban, a 20-year-old from Florida, was sentenced to a decade in prison for SIM swapping—stealing over $13 million in cryptocurrency by tricking phone companies into transferring victims’ numbers to hacker-controlled devices. If you haven’t already, lock down your wireless accounts with a unique PIN or password that’s distinct from your regular login. It’s the simplest brick in your cyber fortress.

Quick tips before we log off: Never trust unsolicited job offers on WhatsApp or Telegram. Ignore anyone who asks for money up front for a so-called paid task. Use multi-factor authentication for everything. And always—always—verify before handing over any info or cash.

Thanks for tuning in to my scam-spotting session. Be smarter than the scammers, stay updated, and don’t forget to subscribe for more. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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