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
On 12/2/24, the IRS, along with its Security Summit partners, issued an IRS Consumer Alert and cautioned taxpayers to exercise heightened vigilance during their holiday shopping, as scammers are actively seeking personal...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
As the holiday season is upon us, businesses must remain vigilant against the increased threat of cybersecurity hacks and scams. Cybercriminals often exploit the festive atmosphere and increased online activity to target...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
Crypto Payments Firms Announce New Integrations and Initiatives - According to reports, fintech bank Revolut recently announced a partnership with Ledger, a major crypto hardware wallet provider, to make it easier for...more
El 7/16/24, el IRS advirtió a los contribuyentes y profesionales de impuestos cómo las estafas por correo electrónico continúan teniendo como objetivo engañar a los contribuyentes robando información fiscal y financiera...more
On 7/16/24, the IRS warned taxpayers and tax professionals how email scams continue to aim to trick taxpayers by stealing sensitive tax and financial information. This information consists of passwords, bank account numbers,...more
As the Web3 and digital assets ecosystem continues to grow, hacks, scams and other threats remain a major cause for concern and a potential impediment to broader adoption. Data from various sources indicates that after a year...more
Cybercriminals continue to outpace the best efforts of regulators, law enforcement, and cybersecurity professionals. Recent reporting from the Federal Bureau of Investigation demonstrates that cybercriminals are increasingly...more
"Thank you for your order." "We tried delivering your package." We have all seen these subject lines in our inbox, but some are not so innocent. Business impersonation scams are not new, but some of their tricks are. These...more
Stablecoin, Wallet Products Launch; German Bank Launches Crypto Services - Circle, a global fintech firm and issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has announced new smart contract functionality to allow holders of BUIDL, a...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
In a world where trademark owners craft their brand narratives with creativity and innovation a dark undercurrent emerges – a rising tide of scams driven by the same ingenuity and resourcefulness....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
Holland & Knight's Intellectual Property Group has seen an escalation in emails to clients in which the sender applies the scare tactic of "react quickly or lose your rights to your trademark." These are very often scams....more