Scam Prevention

How to Spot Online Shopping Scams This Prime Day: A BBB-Inspired Guide Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest online shopping events of the year, and scammers know it. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently issued a warning about a surge in shopping-related fraud targeting consumers ahead of the sales event. While Prime Day offers legitimate discounts, it also creates an environment where fake websites, phishing emails, and too-good-to-be-true deals thrive. Here’s what you need to know to shop safely. ...

1 in 3 Americans Has Been Scammed While Shopping Online – Here’s How to Protect Yourself If you shop online, the odds are not in your favor. According to a November 2025 study by the Pew Research Center, about a third of Americans say they’ve had an online shopping scam happen to them. That’s 32 percent of U.S. adults — a striking number that underscores how common these frauds have become. ...

Online Shopping Scams Are on the Rise: How to Spot and Stop Them If you shop online regularly, you’ve probably noticed more emails, texts, and social media ads pushing deals that seem almost too good to pass up. Unfortunately, many of those are scams designed to steal your money or personal information. Government agencies have been issuing warnings about these threats for years, and the alerts keep coming. In January 2026, the Department of Veterans Affairs published an article specifically telling people to watch out for scams and stay safe while online shopping. It’s a reminder that everyone—especially those who use VA benefits or other government services—needs to stay cautious. ...

How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams: Tips from the VA Online shopping is convenient, but it also attracts scammers looking to steal your money or personal information. The Department of Veterans Affairs has published several alerts and guides on this topic, warning that fake websites, phishing emails, and even QR code scams are on the rise. Whether you are a veteran using VA benefits or anyone shopping online, knowing how to recognize these threats can save you time, money, and stress. ...

How to Protect Yourself from a New Phishing Toolkit Called ARToken We’ve seen the headlines before: another round of sophisticated phishing attacks, another set of financial losses. But a fresh development in the cybercrime world is worth attention because it lowers the bar for attackers. A toolkit called ARToken, described by security researchers as a “phishing-as-a-service” platform, is designed specifically to carry out business email compromise (BEC) attacks—the type where an email appears to come from a boss, a vendor, or a trusted partner, asking for a payment or sensitive data. ...

Amazon Prime Day Scams Are on the Rise: How to Shop Safely (BBB Warning) Prime Day deals can be tempting, but scammers know that too. Just ahead of Amazon’s flagship sales event—this year scheduled for mid-July—the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has issued a warning about a surge in online shopping scams. These frauds are designed to steal both your money and your personal information. Here’s what you need to know and how to shop safely. ...

How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams This Amazon Prime Day Amazon Prime Day is just around the corner. For shoppers, that means big discounts and limited-time deals. For scammers, it means a surge in opportunities to trick people out of their money and personal information. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has issued a warning about this predictable uptick in fraud, and knowing what to look for can keep your shopping experience safe. ...

Why Online Shoppers Are Ignoring Scam Warnings — and How to Stay Safe Most of us have seen them: an email about a “limited-time deal” from a store you barely remember visiting, or a social media ad promising a designer handbag for $29. The spelling is a little off, the URL looks strange, and yet—somehow—you still click. You’re not alone. ...

Why Online Shoppers Keep Falling for Scams (and How to Stop) You’ve probably seen the warnings: “This site may be fraudulent,” “Suspicious link,” “Deal too good to be true.” Yet many of us click anyway. A recent report from cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 suggests that online shoppers are increasingly ignoring these red flags, especially as the holiday shopping season ramps up. Understanding why that happens — and what you can do about it — might save you money, time, and a lot of frustration. ...

What Microsoft’s New Email Security Data Means for Your Inbox Introduction If you use Outlook or Microsoft 365 for email, you’re relying on Microsoft Defender to catch threats before they reach you. Recently, Microsoft released a year’s worth of email security benchmarking data, offering a rare look at the volume and types of attacks that hit inboxes daily. The report itself is understandably promotional, but the trends it describes are consistent with what security researchers have observed independently. More importantly, the findings point to a handful of settings and habits that can meaningfully reduce your risk—no IT degree required. ...