Beware the Cyber Chaos: IRS Impersonators, Fake Prize Scams, and More - Your Scam-Busting Guide cover art

Beware the Cyber Chaos: IRS Impersonators, Fake Prize Scams, and More - Your Scam-Busting Guide

Beware the Cyber Chaos: IRS Impersonators, Fake Prize Scams, and More - Your Scam-Busting Guide

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 Hey listeners, Scotty here, your go-to scam buster with a techie twist on the latest cyber chaos hitting the wires this week. Picture this: it's tax season kickoff, and scammers are dialing like mad, pretending to be from the IRS Tax Resolution Oversight Department or Tax Mediation and Resolution Agency, promising to hook you into a fake IRS Liability Reduction Program. The IRS warns they don't have those departments, never call first—they mail—and sure as heck won't demand crypto, gift cards, or immediate wire transfers. Hang up, spoofed caller ID or not, and verify at 800-829-1040.

Just yesterday, Donald Johnson Jr. got nabbed in Michigan for scamming a 72-year-old grandma out of over $200,000 in a Publishers Clearing House ruse. Scammers called her saying she'd won big but needed to pay "taxes" first—mailed to addresses including Johnson's, with one chunk over $90,000. Classic prize scam alert: real PCH never asks for upfront fees.

Over in Vancouver, Canada, two elderly ladies fell for the grandparent scam—fake attorney calls claiming grandkid's in jail, needing $7,200 for bail, with a courier to snatch the cash. AI voices are making these even creepier now.

Tech support fakes are raging too: Geek Squad renewal phishing emails from Best Buy imposters look legit, billing you $339.99 for fake network security auto-renewals. They push you to call bogus numbers spilling your SSN for identity theft. Coinbase phishing is surging with AI-forged sites and QR codes stealing crypto wallets.

Don't sleep on breaches—ShinyHunters hacked Panera Bread via social engineering, snagging 14 million customers' names, emails, phones, addresses, and accounts. They're the crew behind Google, Farmers Insurance, Chanel, and more hits last year. NordVPN reports airline and hotel loyalty points—like those from major chains—are flooding the dark web for pennies, from $0.75 to $200 a pop. Formjacking via Magecart hit Ticketmaster through a chatbot, skimming card data.

Romance scams are heating up pre-Valentine's—AARP's Amy Nofziger says one in ten over-50s targeted, starting as Facebook "friends" turning flirty, pushing crypto investments. Tennessee saw over 450 victims last year, one dropping $400,000.

Stay sharp, listeners: Pause on urgency, never grant remote access, use credit cards online not debit, enable 2FA, chat scams with family, and trust browser warnings—close those tabs fast. Verify everything yourself, ditch data brokers to starve scammers of your info.

Thanks for tuning in, smash that subscribe for daily scam smarts. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

For more http://www.quietplease.ai

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