How to Avoid Foreign Lottery Scams
USPS(NEW YORK) — By any accounts Clifford Curtis is an intelligent man. He completed high school at age 16, and later became an engineer and an attorney.So his daughter Laura was shocked when she noticed a Western Union receipt indicating her 83…
Mom Seeks Police Help Finding Woman in Suspected Cancer Scam
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — A mother says she will ask police to find the woman who she believes scammed her dying son. Thomas Doty, 20, of Washington state, died on Dec. 19 after a three-year battle with bone cancer — but not before a …
Woman Arrested in Newtown School Shooting Scam
DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images(HARTFORD, Conn.) — Authorities say a New York City woman who pretended to be an aunt to one of the 20 children killed in the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., has been arrested and charged with lying to federal agents.The …
New York Brothers Charged in $5M Lottery Scam
Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Two brothers have been charged with attempted grand larceny and conspiracy after they waited six years to claim a $5 million lottery scratch-off ticket that they allegedly scammed from a customer at their famil…
Insurance Agent Arrested for Allegedly Scamming Tom Hanks
ABC/CRAIG SJODIN(LOS ANGELES) — A California insurance agent who allegedly ripped off Tom Hanks and three other people was arrested Wednesday, according to The Los Angeles Times.Jerry B. Goldman, 59, recently was indicted by a federal grand jury for m…
Nationwide Utility Bill Scam Spreads to Midwest
Fuse/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Utility companies in the Midwest are warning customers of an ongoing con that has already affected thousands on the West and East Coast in which a scammer claims households are eligible for an energy credit offered by Presi…
Fallen Soldier’s Picture Used in Craigslist Scam
KATU/ABC News(PENSACOLA, Fla.) — An Oregon father was angered to find an image of his son, a fallen soldier, posted on Craigslist as part of a scam to collect money for a fictitious wounded soldier.“It’s disheartening. This just seems to b…
Colorado Mother, Daughter Charged in Military Online Dating Scam
Tracy Vasseur, left, and her mother, Karen Vasseur. (Colorado Attorney General)(BRIGHTON, Colo.) — A mother and daughter in Colorado were indicted for their role in a “Nigerian internet romance scam” in which associates in Nigeria posed as members of …
Employee Scams Car Dealership Out of $10M, Spends Cash on Luxuries
Adam Gault/Thinkstock(PITTSBURGH) — Patricia Smith, the former controller of an auto dealership in Pennsylvania, is headed to jail after embezzling $10 million from her former boss in a stunning case of a trusted employee looting the business then squ…
Philadelphia Weatherman Drugged, Scammed by Women
ABC News(NEW YORK) — John Bolaris was a TV weather forecaster in Philadelphia, but even he could not predict the intentions of two comely women that approached him at a luxury hotel bar in Miami.He woke up two days after the encounter with little memo…
Cops: Alleged Lego Scammer Sold 2,100 Boxes Through Website
Vladimir Weiss/Bloomberg via Getty Images(SANTA CLARA, Calif.) — The California software exec arrested for allegedly switching bar codes on high priced Lego sets resold them online through “TomsBrickyard,” a site so popular with Lego buyers that they …
Software Exec Charged in Lego Barcode Scam
BananaStock/Thinkstock(SANTA CLARA, Calif.) — A Silicon Valley executive has been charged with four felony counts of second degree burglary after allegedly creating his own barcodes and placing them on Lego toys at Target stores to get major discounts…
Feds Catch Navy Veterans Charity ‘Scammer’
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Dept./U.S. Marshals(PORTLAND, Ore.) — The man accused of setting up a fake Navy Veterans charity and siphoning away millions of dollars was captured by U.S. Marshals in Portland, Ore., after nearly two years on the run. The …
Texas Teen Indicted for Faking Cancer
File photo. iStockphoto/Thinkstock(HORIZON CITY, Texas) — Police in Horizon City, Texas say they have arrested a teenager whose false tale of her fight against cancer got neighbors to open their hearts — and their wallets. Nineteen-year-old Angie Go…
Rx Drug Scam Uses DEA Identities to Terrify Victims into Paying Up
Hemera/Thinkstock(FORT WORTH, Texas) — The websites seem so simple, so inviting — buy prescription diet pills or sleep aids without a prescription. But it could be a trap.A few clicks on certain websites can lead to phone calls that sound like this: …
"Millionaire Matchmaker" Con Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud
Hemera/Thinkstock(TAMPA, Fla.) — A supposed mega-millionaire who appeared on the Bravo television series The Millionaire Matchmaker has been exposed as a Tampa, Fla.-based scam artist after federal prosecutors blew the whistle on him as a fraudster, l…