The financial news that actually matters
When the Supreme Court threw out a sweeping set of “emergency” import tariffs earlier this year, it opened the door to one of the largest tax refunds in recent memory. Months later, the money is moving slowly and unevenly, and government data show that Washington has agreed to return far more than it has actually…
People who have already been cheated once are among the most targeted victims of all, because the criminals who took their money often circle back for a second pass. The pitch is engineered to sound like relief: a caller, email, or social media message promises to recover the funds a scam swallowed, or to secure…
A phone rings with a number that looks like a neighbor, a local pharmacy, or an office in the same town, and the instinct is to answer. That instinct is exactly what the caller is counting on. The technology behind most nuisance and fraud calls lets a stranger paste almost any number onto a recipient’s…
Millions of older Americans keep their landline and cell numbers on a federal list built to shut off telemarketing calls. That registry does real work against law-abiding sellers, but it also hands consumers a quiet diagnostic tool. Once a number has been enrolled long enough for legitimate marketers to drop it, a caller still pushing…
Wiping out a stubborn debt can feel like pure relief, right up until a tax form arrives the following January. When a lender forgives, settles, or writes off money a person owed, the IRS often treats the canceled amount as income — as if the borrower had been handed cash equal to the balance that…
Some debts do not exist, yet a collector will call anyway — insisting money is owed on a loan that was never taken, a bill already paid, or an account that belongs to a stranger. These “phantom debts” are a recurring trap, and the people working them often threaten arrest, wage garnishment, or court to…
A phone call that shows a bank’s name and number on the screen feels safe to pick up, which is exactly why fraudsters engineer it that way. A voice claiming to be from the fraud department reports a suspicious charge, then asks the account holder to “verify” a card number, read back a security code,…
A cryptocurrency machine bolted to the wall of a gas station or grocery store looks a lot like an ordinary cash machine, and scammers count on that resemblance. Their script is nearly always the same: a caller warns that an account has been hacked or a Social Security number is tied to a crime, then…
A small square of black-and-white dots has become one of the easiest tools a thief can use to reach into a bank account. Scammers print their own QR codes and paste them over genuine ones — on parking meters, storefront flyers, and letters dressed up to look like overdue bills — so a single scan…
Not all ways of paying are equally reversible, and the gap matters most at the worst possible moment. A charge on a credit or debit card can be disputed, investigated, and often reversed. A wire transfer or an instant payment through an app like Zelle usually cannot. Once the money leaves, it lands in the…