Scams

Police arrested a man suspected of taking a Bethesda, Maryland, couple for $400,000 in a gold bar scam. A text message reading “Contact us about an unauthorized charge on your Apple account” led the couple down a scam rabbit hole, police said. They were led to believe they were talking by phone to real Apple employees and eventually, according to…

Police arrested a man suspected of taking a Bethesda, Maryland, couple for $400,000 in a gold bar scam. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.

In the last year, job scams have been on the rise, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that helps consumers with identity compromises and crime.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which means it’s the perfect time to learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Montgomery County police say scammers are targeting people in public parking lots and outside of their homes in a mobile dent repair scheme. Police are telling residents to watch out for a silver Mercedes-Benz covered in logos. A flier police posted Monday confirmed what many like Elliott O’Donovan already suspected. “Working on an elderly woman’s car and it, and...

Montgomery County Police say scammers are using a mobile dent repair scheme, targeting people in public parking lots and outside of their homes. News4’s Walter Morris reports.

A quick-thinking title company owner was able to stop a fraudulent sale when it appeared the scammer was using A.I. technology to try to steal properties

Scammers are stealing money from residents who receive SNAP benefits and other public assistance. In the last two years, more than $6.5 million has been stolen in D.C. alone.

Thousands of the District’s most vulnerable residents have been the target of a scam that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars. It’s a nationwide problem — but more than $6.5 million has been stolen in D.C. alone. News4’s Mark Segraves reports.

Imagine getting an email that contains your name, a picture of the front of your house and the words, “I’m watching your dirty behavior.” Maryland State Police are warning people about a blackmail scam. Potential victims are asked for large sums of money in Bitcoins. The scammer demands money in order to keep their internet search history from being...

Maryland State Police are warning Gmail users about blackmail scams asking for large amounts of money to keep their internet search history from being shared with everyone they know. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports. 

Text messages claim to be coming from the United States Postal Service, saying they are unable to deliver a package … unless you confirm your address at a link in the message.

Text messages claim to be coming from the United States Postal Service, saying they are unable to deliver a package … unless you confirm your address at a link in the message. News4’s Susan Hogan reports.

Cryptocurrencies have become a major tool in “pig butchering” scams, where fraudsters flatter their victims over weeks or months.

While fewer checks are being written these days, check fraud continues to be widespread, and it’s surging. Many victims might not even know it’s happened to them.

News4’s Consumer Reporter Susan Hogan reports on how stolen checks are sold to the highest bidder on sites including YouTube and Telegram, sometimes with matching IDs and debit cards. Here’s how to avoid falling victim. 

Scammers are impersonating law enforcement officers, getting victims to convert large sums of their money into gold bars and convincing them to hand over the gold for “safe keeping.”

Scammers are impersonating law enforcement officers, getting victims to convert large sums of their money into gold bars and convincing them to hand over the gold for “safe keeping.” News4’s Mauricio Casillas reports.

It’s a call that could make anyone panic: Someone on the phone says your loved one is about to be arrested for missing jury duty unless you pay up. But it’s a scam. Law enforcement will never call you to demand money. This brazen crime is making a resurgence in the D.C. area, and people are losing thousands of...

A Maryland family has lost thousands of dollars after falling victim to a fraudulent phone call from what they thought was the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. The News4 I-Team’s Susan Hogan reports.