Live Threat Intelligence · Updated Daily

Active Scam Alerts & Emerging Fraud Tactics

Real-time warnings about the schemes hitting consumers right now — verified by our investigators, sourced from active case files, and stripped of the corporate jargon that lets fraudsters hide in plain sight.

Browse All Alerts Report a Scam
Active Now
Banking Fake Zelle reversal phishing
Crypto "USDT approve" wallet drainers
Jobs LinkedIn recruiter impersonation
Romance Pig-butchering v2 recovery scams
Delivery USPS redelivery SMS
Critical Alert · Active Investigation
Critical Updated 2 days ago · Financial Fraud / Impersonation · 14 min read

How a fake government agency is extracting $4,800 "processing fees" from prior scam victims

Callers claiming to represent a non-existent "Federal Recovery Bureau" are contacting people who previously lost money to online scams — and convincing them to pay upfront fees to "unlock" frozen restitution funds. Our investigators have documented 47 confirmed cases across 11 states in the past 30 days, with median losses of $4,800. Here is how the script works, who is behind it, and what to do if they call you.

Filed This Week

Recent Scam Alerts

Every alert is reviewed by our investigation team. Timestamps reflect when the pattern was first confirmed in active case files, not when the scheme first appeared in the wild.

High Risk
High Banking · 3 hr ago

Fake Zelle "Pending Reversal" Phishing Texts

SMS messages claiming a $1,489 Zelle transfer is "pending reversal verification" lead to cloned bank login pages. Targets skew 35–64.

Field-tested pattern Read →
Critical
Critical Cryptocurrency · 7 hr ago

"USDT Approve" Wallet-Drainer on Fake Airdrop Sites

Crafted ERC-20 approval requests that grant attackers unlimited spending rights. Over $2.1M drained in the last 14 days across 312 wallets.

Wallet signature risk Read →
High Risk
High Employment · 1 day ago

LinkedIn Recruiter Impersonation Targeting Developers

Fake job offers that request a "training equipment deposit" via Zelle or gift cards. Profiles use stolen photos and plausible-sounding startups.

Job-seeker focused Read →
Trending
Trending Romance · 2 days ago

Pig-Butchering v2: The Fake "Recovery Agent" Follow-Up

Victims of romance crypto scams are now being re-targeted by "blockchain recovery firms" that demand 12% upfront to retrieve already-stolen funds.

Double-victimization pattern Read →
High Risk
High Delivery · 3 days ago

USPS "Redelivery Fee" SMS With $0.87 Charge

Texts demanding an oddly specific fee for package re-attempts. Link harvests card numbers, address history, and SSN last-four on the "verification" step.

Holiday-season spike Read →
Trending
Medium Real Estate · 4 days ago

Airbnb "Host Verification" Wire-Transfer Redirect

Guests receive convincing emails about updated payment routing for off-platform bookings. Losses average $2,200 per incident.

Off-platform red flag Read →
Browse by Category

Where Fraud Hides

Fraud migrates. When one channel tightens, the operators pivot to another. Filter alerts by the surface where the approach typically lands.

Banking & Wire

Account takeover, Zelle fraud, ACH42

Cryptocurrency

Wallet drainers, fake exchanges31

Romance & Social

Pig-butchering, catfishing, sextortion27

Employment

Recruiter impersonation, task scams19

Real Estate

Rental deposits, title fraud14

Delivery & Logistics

USPS, FedEx, DHL phishing22

Investment

Ponzi variants, fake platforms18

Impersonation

Fake agencies, support fraud36
Universal Red Flags

Six Signals That Should End the Conversation

These are the patterns that show up across nearly every verified case file in our archive. If you see two or more in a single interaction, disengage and report.

01

Urgency That Punishes Questions

"You must act in the next 30 minutes or your account is permanently frozen." Legitimate institutions do not run on countdown clocks designed to short-circuit your judgment.

02

Payment in Irreversible Forms

Wire transfers, cryptocurrency, gift cards, and payment apps requested by a stranger. Reversibility is the single most useful consumer protection — fraudsters know this and specifically avoid it.

03

Unsolicited Authority Contact

The IRS, Social Security, your bank's fraud department, and law enforcement do not initiate contact by phone, text, or DM. They send letters. Always.

04

Off-Platform Channel Pivots

Someone you met on a job board, dating app, or marketplace insists on moving the conversation to Telegram, WhatsApp, or text "for privacy." This is the moment the platform's protections stop working.

05

You Are "Already a Victim"

Someone informs you that you have a problem, exposure, or pending refund — and positions themselves as the only person who can resolve it. This is the core architecture of the recovery scam.

06

Refusal to Use Verified Channels

Hang up, look up the institution's official number, and call back. Anyone who discourages you from verifying their identity through a channel you initiated is operating a script.

2,847
Verified scam patterns in our active case-file index
$48.2M
In documented consumer losses tied to current alerts
11 min
Median time from incident report to public alert
73%
Of victims who recognized the red flag after the fact
Get the Briefing

New scam spotted. You find out first.

One short email each Tuesday with the week's new confirmed alerts, the fraud pattern we are tracking, and one actionable defense. No filler, no affiliate links, no sponsored content. Unsubscribe lives in every email.

We will never ask for payment information, SSN, or login credentials in any communication. Ever.

Encountered Something Suspicious?

Spotted a pattern we haven't covered yet?

Our best alerts originate from tips. If you have received a suspicious message, lost money, or noticed a recurring approach that doesn't match anything in the archive, file a report. Every submission is reviewed by a human investigator.

File a Scam Report Browse Defense Playbooks