The Scammies: Top Cyber Scams of 2023

Internet scams and fraud in the U.S. are getting bigger, costlier and fancier as technology continues to make massive strides, but many American consumers still don’t have the skill set they need to protect their online lives. A key part of practicing online safety is being aware of the most common cyber scams.?

With most of 2023 behind us, here five culturally significant moments in 2023 that scammers used to exploit consumers and tips on how to watch out for similar scams in the future.?

1. Tax Day deadline. Scammers used the sense of urgency created by the deadline in April, coupled with the newfound trend of online tax filing to their advantage. Scammers often pose as the IRS and pressure victims into giving up money or personal information via email or text.

Three ways to identify a tax scam:

• They contact you. The IRS will not reach out to you unless you contact them first.
• They give you a form that’s not on the IRS website.
• You’re asked to provide sensitive personal or financial information.

2. Student Loan Payments resumed. Student loan interest restarted in October, and borrowers began repaying their loans for the first time since March 2020. Scammers took advantage of the uncertainty created by multiple repayment date extensions.?

Three ways to identify a student loan forgiveness scam:

• They cold call you and promise immediate, complete loan forgiveness.
• They request that you share your Federal Student Aid (FSA) credentials.
• They demand upfront payment.?

3. Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour tickets went on sale. Similar to what happened with Taylor Swift Eras tour tickets in December 2022, there was an influx of fake websites pretending to sell genuine tickets and an increase in fake ticket sales on third-party reseller sites.?

Three ways to identify fake ticket scams before buying:

• The deal is too-good-to-be-true on social media and online marketplaces.
• The seller wants you to pay by wire transfer or gift card.
• They ask for unnecessary personal information.

4. Apple announced its new iPhone 15 lineup. Many fake websites popped up after Apple debuted its latest generation iPhones, pretending to be certified sellers or offering pre-order sign-ups.?

Three ways to spot a phony product before purchasing:?

• The product is advertised at an unbelievably low price.
• The product photos are of poor quality or are difficult to see.?
• The online seller doesn't have any terms and conditions on their website.

5. The Mega Millions Jackpot winner drawings. The Mega Millions jackpot had been steadily increasing since its last winner in April, reaching a staggering $1.25 billion by August 1. As a result, there was a sharp surge in lottery-related scam messages sent through text.

Three ways to identify sweepstakes and lottery scams:

• You didn’t ever actually enter to win the lottery.
• They ask you to pay to participate. Legitimate sweepstakes mailings are required to tell you that there are no charges to participate.
• They need your bank account information in order to wire you the money you’ve won.?

What's next in 2024?

The standout scam in 2023 was synthetic voice fraud, where scammers used AI-generated "voice cloning" to create convincing imposter scams by manipulating short audio clips from social media. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about this in March 2023.

In 2024, we anticipate this trend to continue, and expand to other mediums, as AI makes it easier to duplicate and edit legitimate videos, images, websites, emails and text messages for nefarious purposes. It’s scary to think about, but we could see scammers use AI and public social media photos to create compromising photos as a means to extort payment from targets.

If this happens to your or a loved one–report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.?

Further, if you believe you’ve been targeted by a scam, Aura has made its highly experienced White Glove Fraud Resolution team available for everyone–not just our customers–to help navigate the overwhelming process of resolution. Go to Aura.com/helpme.?

To see the full list of top scams of 2023 and learn more about how to identify them, check out the press release at aura.com/press.