Compliance Needs are Alive and Well: FTC's Recent Enforcement Activity
Excessive Compensation: What to do when the co-owners of your business pay themselves excessively
Deposit Account Litigation: Highlights From 2024 and What to Expect in 2025 — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Recognizing and Avoiding Trademark Scams and Hoaxes
Elder Abuse-Financial Exploitation and Fraud
Legally Qualified: Protecting Against Elder Investment Fraud and Exploitation
Digging Deeper, Episode 1: The Con Queen of Hollywood
What is Consumer Fraud and What Deceptions are Employed?
Malwarebytes recently reported that it has found scammers hijacking websites of name brands, including banks, software companies, and social media platforms to trick victims into calling a fraudulent telephone number instead...more
Smishing schemes involving Departments of Motor Vehicles nationwide have increased. Scammers are sending SMS text messages falsely claiming to be from the DMV that “are designed to deceive recipients into clicking malicious...more
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal highlights a case that is sadly all too familiar – a family member is in distress, and you must wire them money to help save them. Of course, as the article reveals, the family...more
I have been getting a lot of texts that are clearly scams, and those around me have confirmed an increase in spammy texts. According to an FTC Consumer Protection Data Spotlight, individuals lost over $470 million...more
As technology advances, so do the tactics of scammers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a data spotlight on the top text scams of 2024, revealing a significant increase in financial losses despite a...more
Business email compromise (BEC) fraud, driven by technology and increasing sophistication by criminal organizations, has become a major issue for both consumers and financial institutions. According to a September 2024...more
Business owners should be aware of a new email scam circulating impersonating an intellectual property (IP) representative, containing false information, and offering trademark assistance. This nefarious email scam is sent by...more
This week, I received a fake text message (a smish) saying my E-ZPass account was overdue and that I urgently needed to pay it. That’s a new one and, apparently, quite effective. Luckily, I knew it was a scam, but others were...more
Whenever large sums of money are involved, don’t be surprised if scammers come out of the woodwork. This is especially true today, as criminals have a variety of tools at their disposal, such as phishing emails, designed to...more
On October 24, 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) jointly announced the implementation of the Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF) in relation to phishing...more
DocuSign is a great and efficient way to obtain authentic signatures for contracts and invoices. As with other efficient tools, threat actors will and have found a way to use the DocuSign API to send fake invoices to divert...more
Educational institutions in the United States, as well as those in other countries, are reporting experiencing a fairly new type of fraudulent scheme: the ghost student scam. “Ghost students” are stolen or fake identities...more
Over the years many clients have forwarded to us scam trademark mailings. These mailings come from various official-sounding sources, all of which seek money to allegedly take action regarding the client’s trademarks....more
One recent victim of scams preying on U.S. trademark filers and registrants answered a call that appeared to be from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It wasn’t. The target of the scam was forced to...more
Every month, Erise’s trademark attorneys review the latest developments at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in the courts, and across the corporate world to bring you the stories that you should know about: Travis...more
Especially during the holi-daze, it can be easy to let our safeguards down and fall prey to scammers looking to make a quick buck. Trademark applicants and registrants interacting with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...more
Taxpayers can take a tax deduction with respect to “theft” losses that result from an illegal “taking of property” done with criminal intent. Among various other types of criminal activities, fraud is treated as theft under...more
“Business Email Compromise Scams” or “BEC scams” typically target companies that conduct wire transfers with entities abroad. For example, a fraudster may use an email address that is very similar to that of a business’s...more
Payment scams exploiting the lure of cryptocurrency are a growing concern for individuals and businesses—losses from crypto scams increased from $907 million in 2021 to $2.57 billion in 2022. These scams typically involve...more
Where companies are victimized by ransomware or email scams, their losses arise from payments made by an officer or employee of the company. In the case of ransomware, a company’s files are held hostage pending payment...more
On March 10, 2023, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control of the assets of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In light of SVB’s closure, many venture firms and emerging companies are establishing new accounts with...more
Independent school business officers are tasked with a wide range of responsibilities, including payroll, accounting, accounts payable, investments, and facility security. Unfortunately, many independent schools are...more
The COVID pandemic has and continues to take both a physical and mental toll on senior citizens. In addition to being the most vulnerable to the virus and having to endure long isolation periods from family and friends, the...more
Having been phish bait numerous times, we are wisely wary of emails inviting us to click on embedded links that either install malware or direct us to fraudulent websites. However, the immediacy and informality associated...more
In a recently published survey of 2,832 businesses about their concerns related to the pandemic’s impact, 82 percent were interested in pursuing federal assistance, but only four percent of respondents expressed concerns...more