A low credit score follows you everywhere: car loans, apartments, even job applications. So when an ad promises to wipe the slate clean for a $1 "identity verification" fee, it feels like a lifeline.

On August 10 the FTC announced that a federal court has shut down Credit Glory and 16 related companies, a credit repair operation that took nearly $200 million from consumers, including military servicemembers. The pitch: they would remove negative items from your credit report and boost your score. The reality: that $1 charge turned into hundreds of dollars in fees, then recurring monthly charges that quietly never stopped.

Nobody can legally remove accurate information from your credit report, and real credit repair companies cannot charge you before doing the work.

The rule: Anyone who charges up front to "fix" your credit, or promises to erase accurate bad marks, is a scammer. Dispute real errors yourself for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, and report credit repair scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Source: FTC: FTC Stops Sprawling Credit Repair Scheme that Scammed Consumers Out of Nearly $200 Million

The video shows a twenty-something leaning on a sports car in front of a rented mansion. He says he was broke last year. Then he found trading. For a fee, he will teach you too.

The FTC warned on August 7 that these investment "training" scams are spreading on social media, aimed especially at young people. The courses promise guaranteed profits with little or no risk, backed by testimonials from students who supposedly got rich. The credentials are invented, the testimonials are recruitment bait, and the only reliable income stream is your course fee. The FTC has already shut down one of these operations, IM Mastery Academy, which was ordered to turn over more than $90 million.

Real investing always involves risk, and no legitimate teacher promises returns.

The rule: A "guaranteed" profit is a guaranteed scam. Before paying anyone to teach you trading, search their name plus the word "scam," and report the pitch at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Source: FTC: How to spot investment training scams on social media

You looked at a pair of boots once, and now an ad is offering them at 70% off. It looks official. It even shows up between posts from your friends.

In an August 10 alert, the FTC confirmed what many people assume is impossible: social media platforms do not always vet the ads you see or the advertisers behind them. Scammers buy ads that impersonate real brands, sell counterfeit or nonexistent goods, and push fake investment offers. Because ads are targeted using your own browsing history, the bait is customized to you. Consumers reported losing more than $95 million to social media ad scams in 2025, and the real number is likely higher.

An ad in your feed deserves the same suspicion as a stranger at your door.

The rule: Never buy straight from a social media ad. Search the company name plus "scam" or "complaint" first, and when in doubt, type the brand's real website into your browser yourself. Report bad ads at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Source: FTC: Are ads on social media vetted or checked for scams? Here's what to know

It arrives looking urgent: "Your account will be disabled. Verify now." Or a friendly "customer service rep" messages you asking for the six-digit code that was just texted to your phone.

On August 10 the FBI warned that criminals are breaking into people's accounts this way, and the goal is uglier than usual: stealing private photos and videos stored in those accounts, then leaking them or demanding money to keep them quiet. The break-in methods are simple. They try passwords leaked from old data breaches, pose as platform support to talk you out of a verification code, and send phishing emails with lookalike login links.

That six-digit code is the key to your account. The only person who will ever ask you for it is someone trying to get in.

The rule: Never share a verification code with anyone, and never log in through a link someone sent you. Use a different password for every account, turn on multi-factor authentication, and report break-ins at www.ic3.gov.

Source: FBI IC3: Sexual Exploitation Actors Stealing and Leaking Explicit Content