Online scams target immigrants without legal status as deportation fears linger  — Jose is a Venezuelan national living in North Texas who has been preparing for his asylum hearing scheduled for July. Last week, he received an email he thought was from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notifying him his hearing had been moved up almost two months. It read: “The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services informs you that your virtual hearing had been scheduled for May 9, 2025 at 5:00 p.m., New York local time.” “It caught me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting this,” Jose – who asked to only use his first name -- said in Spanish.

Barclays Scams Bulletin: Romance scam reports rise 20 per cent as online dating hits 30-year anniversary  — Barclays Scams Bulletin: Romance scam reports rise 20 per cent as online dating hits 30-year anniversary One in 10 UK adults have been targeted, or know someone who has been targeted, by a romance scam In the first quarter of 2025, romance scams were up 20 per cent year-on-year Victims lost £8,000 on average last year, increasing to £19,000 for those 61 and over Three quarters of consumers want tech companies to do more to prevent romance scammers on their platforms The Barclays Scams Bulletin tracks scam data across personal and business current accounts, paired with expert commentary from Barclays digital safety experts

Avoiding Investment and Payment Scams Online  — Takeaways We are sharing tips and product tools across Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram to help people avoid online investment and payment scams. Since the start of 2024, we have detected and disrupted over seven million accounts associated with scam centers across Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. To help protect people targeted by scammers across the internet, we’re also supporting the FBI’s Level Up program, which aims to minimize financial loss from investment scams linked to known scam centers.

You’d never fall for an online scam, right?  — Wrong, says cybersecurity expert. Con artists use time-tested tricks that can work on anyone regardless of age, IQ — what’s changed is scale. Online scams are on the rise. Last year, American consumers lost $12.5 billion due to cybercrime, which represents a 22 percent increase over the previous year, according to a report by the FBI. Cybercriminals use psychological trickery to dupe victims into giving up their money, and their tactics are becoming more sophisticated. They post fake ads on social media platforms, send emails with phishing links or malware, and recently in the Boston area, solicit payments for unpaid tolls via text message.