Common Scams

Scammers are constantly discovering new ways to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. There were nearly 6.5 million reported cases of fraud or identity theft in 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Knowing what common scams look like is a great first line of defense against fraudsters.

Watch for These Scams

While this is not a list of every possible scam, these ensnare thousands of people a year.

Check Fraud: Fraudsters commit check fraud in a variety of ways, such as forging signatures, creating counterfeits and drawing checks on closed accounts.

Employment Scams: Employment scams occur when a fraudster pretends to be a hiring manager who is ready and eager to hire you. However, they always need personal information from you first, especially early in the interview process. If a job offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Grandparent Scams: These occur when a fraudster pretends to be a friend or family member of the victim. They claim to need immediate help and attempt to convince the victim to send them money for something like bail or medical expenses.

Identity Theft: A broad term for scams where your personal information is stolen. Some of these scams include tax ID theft, medical ID theft and unemployment ID theft. Even businesses can fall victim to identity theft when a thief uses a company’s information to file a fake tax return, open a credit card or establish a line of credit with a retailer.

Phishing Scams: When a criminal attempts to steal your personal information through an email or text message, they are phishing. These messages appear to come from a trusted organization and use urgency and scare tactics to get you to a click a link. Once you click, your password, account number or other personal information may get stolen.

Romance Scams: Also known as relationship scams, these occur when a criminal gains the trust of a victim, who begins to send money or gift cards to the criminal. Once the payment is made, these criminals often disappear with the money for good.

Social Security Scams: This type of identity theft occurs when a scammer pretends to be from the Social Security Administration and asks you to provide your Social security number or money.

Spoofed Calls and Texts: When a scammer disguises the phone number of a call or text message to be from a familiar source, they are spoofing. These calls and texts often appear to come from banks, government agencies or other well-known organizations, and attempt to prod you into giving up personal information.

Unemployment Scams: These occur when a scammer uses your personal information to collect unemployment in your name. This is a type of identity theft.

Common Business Scams

Fraudsters aren’t just scamming individuals. Business fraud hurts thousands of businesses every year. If you are a business owner, here are a few common types of business fraud that you and your employees should recognize.

ACH and Wire Fraud: Criminals will attempt to coerce business owners into paying fake invoices. These scams rely on fear to scare a business owner into paying quickly and without a second thought. Once money is sent it’s difficult to recover.

Fake Check Scams: These occur when criminals overpay via check then ask you to rewire the refund. They always have a believable excuse for why you must do this, and once the bank realizes the check was bad, the criminal is long gone.

Fake Invoices: Scammers will send fake invoices of common items like office supplies to a company hoping that whoever receives the invoice will pay it without a second thought. Always verify that you actually ordered and received what you are paying for.

Imposter Scams: An imposter scam occurs when someone pretends to be a company or organization they are not. Imposter scams against businesses can look like phone calls from utility companies, government agencies or other trusted sources. These imposters are always looking for money.