The storm passes, the power comes back, and someone official-looking knocks on your door offering to inspect the damage. Mid-September is the peak of hurricane season, and it is also the peak of this scam.

On September 9 the FTC warned that after emergencies, scammers pose as government officials, charities, and contractors. The "FEMA inspector" asks for a fee or your Social Security number (FEMA never charges). The "contractor" wants a big cash deposit for repairs he will never start. The fake charity works your generosity while the news is still on. The FTC's advice: get ahead of it now. Know what your insurance covers, photograph your belongings, and find a contractor you trust before you need one in a hurry.

The rule: Never pay a government "fee," never share your Social Security number at the door, and never pay a contractor in full up front. Check FEMA.gov yourself and give through charities you already know.

Source: FTC: This National Preparedness Month, plan ahead to avoid scams

Tax identity theft is simple and brutal: a crook with your stolen Social Security number files a fake return in your name, pockets the refund, and you find out months later when the IRS rejects yours.

On September 4 the IRS and its Security Summit partners urged taxpayers to lock the door before filing season. The strongest lock is an Identity Protection PIN, a six-digit number known only to you and the IRS. With it in place, a return filed without your PIN gets bounced. Pair it with an IRS Online Account, so a thief can't create one pretending to be you, and turn on multifactor authentication for your email and bank logins.

The rule: Set up an IP PIN and an IRS Online Account at IRS.gov this week. And remember: the IRS will never call, email, or text you asking for your IP PIN. Anyone who does is a scammer.

Source: IRS: Security Summit: Strengthen defenses against tax identity theft

Last week it was Nuvei. This week another payment company got caught running the cash register for scammers, and the bill was even bigger.

On September 8 the FTC announced that Humboldt Merchant Services will pay $12 million over charges that it processed payments for more than 1,000 shell companies, fake storefronts used to run unauthorized billing schemes on people's credit cards. The red flags were hard to miss: chargeback rates nearly 10 times the industry norm. Humboldt is now permanently banned from processing for high-risk merchants, and the $12 million goes back to defrauded consumers.

The rule: Read your card statement every month, line by line. A charge you don't recognize, even a small one, is worth a call to your card company. Disputes work, and these cases prove the money can come back.

Source: FTC: FTC Takes Action Against Payment Processor Humboldt Merchant Services

A stranger messages claiming to have intimate photos of you and demands money to keep them private. Increasingly, the "photos" are AI fakes. The panic they cause is real, and paying never makes it stop.

On September 10 the FTC laid out what to do, because a federal law is now on your side. Under the Take It Down Act, platforms must give you a way to report a real or AI-faked intimate image and must remove it within 48 hours. You can also use StopNCII.org, a free tool that creates a digital fingerprint of the image so participating platforms block it automatically, without the photo ever leaving your device.

The rule: Don't pay and don't negotiate. Report the image to the platform, create a case at StopNCII.org, and if a platform won't take it down, report it to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov.

Source: FTC: Was your intimate image shared online without your consent? Here's what to do