The financial news that actually matters
Covers financial scams, fraud cases, regulatory enforcement actions, and government crackdowns on illegal financial activity. It educates readers on financial safety and risk prevention.
Americans lost $501 million to job and employment agency scams in 2024, a nearly sixfold increase from $90 million in 2020, according to new Federal Trade Commission data. The surge was driven largely by text-message pitches offering simple “task” work from home, and it arrived alongside a broader explosion in fraud losses that hit $12.5…
James Wellesley, a British national who operated under the aliases Andrew Fuller and Andrew Templar, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for running a wine investment fraud that took in more than $97 million from over 140 victims worldwide. The scheme, built around a company called Bordeaux Cellars, promised investors their money would…
Fraudsters posing as bank employees are calling older Americans, walking them step by step through dismissing legitimate fraud alerts, and directing them to send money through Zelle before the bank can intervene. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that over $800 million in losses accumulated at three of the country’s largest banks, and a Senate…
A former Clearwater, Florida, investment adviser named Mathew Muratori was sentenced to 20 years in prison for stealing more than $152,000 from an elderly client. The sentence, handed down in a state prosecution, involved a scheme built on impersonation, fake digital accounts, and unauthorized transfers. A separate but parallel federal case produced the same 20-year…
Americans reported losing nearly $1 billion to scammers posing as their banks in 2025, making bank impersonation the single largest driver of business-impersonation fraud tracked by the Federal Trade Commission. That figure sits inside a broader $3.5 billion in total imposter-scam losses reported last year, a sharp jump from $2.95 billion in 2024. The FBI…
Christopher Alexander Delgado, described by the Department of Justice as the CEO of Goliath Ventures, pleaded guilty to three federal counts tied to a cryptocurrency fraud scheme that collected at least $250 million from investors. Federal agents seized luxury vehicles, real estate, and roughly 30 watches purchased with investor funds. The guilty plea, entered on…
Federal and state authorities have charged Edwin Brant Frost IV and his Newnan, Georgia, firm First Liberty Building & Loan with running a $140 million Ponzi scheme that drew money from Christian and Republican donors. The SEC filed a civil complaint in the Northern District of Georgia, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the same…
Americans 60 and older lost $445 million to imposter scammers in cases where individual losses topped $100,000, up from $55 million in 2020. The Federal Trade Commission released those figures in August 2025, calling the eight-fold increase a sign that fraud targeting older adults has grown far faster than existing safeguards can contain. Reports of…
The FBI recorded more than one million online crime complaints last year, with total losses reaching $20.9 billion, a figure that dwarfs the prior year’s tally of more than $16 billion. The jump of roughly 149,000 additional complaints, from 859,532 to 1,008,597, raises a pointed question: are Americans actually being victimized at a faster rate,…
Consumers who answer a call from someone claiming to be an “FTC agent” with a badge number are talking to a scammer. The Federal Trade Commission issued a direct warning that it does not employ agents, does not assign badge numbers, and will never call anyone to move money or connect them to a refund….