I’ve covered online scams for years, reporting on the criminals behind them to examining how they con their targets. I’ve also offered suggestions on how to recover your identity and money after being scammed. Here’s what I’ve learned: Scam artists are ruthless. They’ll target anyone: workers who’ve been laid off, lonely people on dating apps, and they’ll even pose as IRS agents to steal taxpayers’ money. Now, I’ve seen a rapid rise in scammers using generative AI to create deepfake videos or audio clips to trick your loved ones into sending them money. Here’s a look at some of the biggest scams to watch out for this year.
The 4 Biggest Scams Coming in 2026
Remember: Anyone can be a victim of a scam. Even if your bank account balance and credit scores are low, you can still get scammed. Scammers typically send numerous messages throughout the day, every day, to ensnare as many victims as possible. Here’s a look at some of the scams that are on our radar this year.
1. Fake Legal Help Preying on Immigrant Communities
As ICE raids descend upon immigrant communities all over the United States, many people are searching online for legal assistance to get their loved ones out of detention or to speed up their immigration or asylum applications. Seeing as scammers love nothing more than a desperate and vulnerable person looking for help, that’s probably why I’ve noticed an increase in social media posts about ads for fake immigration legal services.
Here’s how the scam works: As reported by the FTC, scammers reach out to immigrants with offers to help with immigration-related paperwork and then request money using a transfer service such as Western Union or Zelle. The scammers then seal the deal by posing as immigration officers in video calls on WhatsApp or Zoom.
2. Ring, Ring…It’s a Scam
First, we’ll examine the fraud attempts you probably encounter most often: scammy phone calls and text messages. Despite a lot of noise from US lawmakers in recent years about finding ways to curb robocalls and texts, it’s still incredibly easy for scammers to flood you with calls and messages in an attempt to trick you out of your money, your personal information, or anything else you own. Even worse, AI is making it very easy for scammers to impersonate anyone using AI-generated audio or video, from celebrities to your own family members.
The spam and phishing attempts make it hard to answer the phone with confidence, even when you’re expecting a call. To combat these kinds of scams, you can check the Caller ID label before answering, or use your voicemail to screen your calls. Additionally, ensure you’re utilizing all of your phone’s security features to their fullest potential. Most phones and messaging services have spam filters that you’ll need to turn on in your phone’s settings menu.
3. The Long Con Disguised as Romance
The next scam is a doozy. A couple of years ago, Interpol asked everyone to stop calling it “pig butchering” and instead refer to the scam as romance baiting, because these scams often begin as catfishing or dating app scams. Here’s how it works: A scammer sends lots of messages to a target on a dating app or other online platform to establish trust, and the pair enters an intense relationship very quickly. Despite the short history of these relationships, the scammer gains enough trust from the victim to convince them to hand over a significant amount of personal data, financial login information, and substantial amounts of money.
4. The Rise of Deepfake Deception
AI may help you get your work done faster, and that applies to a scammer’s job, too. Free or low-cost generative AI tools are enabling scammers to effortlessly impersonate anyone, anywhere, and this is becoming a major problem. For example, AI-generated audio and video calls are getting a lot harder to detect. With a few taps on an app, people can clone your voice or the voices of people you love, or use the photos you post on social media to generate fake photos or videos.
AI is also becoming increasingly common in corporate communication settings, making fraud detection more challenging. For example, over the last year, I’ve noticed a dramatic uptick in everyone, from PR professionals to scammers, using AI to craft emails. Since many people send emails with a similar structure, tone, and “voice,” it becomes harder to detect fraud. I can no longer dismiss an AI-generated message as an obvious scam attempt, so I must read every email carefully.
It takes more time out of my workday to second-guess every link or contact request that comes to my work inbox, but the caution is worth it. After all, I was almost tricked by a crafty scammer who created a fake website using AI, and even offered an interview with a fake expert to support their claims. I even tried my hand at scamming (for work purposes) when I asked Google Gemini to create fake settlement claim websites for an article. I was astonished at how little effort it took to create a fake website. This means you should remain cautious about everything you hear, read, or see online.
How to Avoid Online Dating Scams
These scams described here are all examples of a tactic as old as human interaction: social engineering. Sometimes, social engineering refers to a romance scammer who recognizes your need for companionship and demands money from you while flattering you. Other times, a con artist poses as law enforcement or some other government authority and sends urgent calls or texts about fees for fines you didn’t incur. In all these cases, your story ends the same way: Broke and looking for recourse. Check out this article to learn techniques for spotting scams on social media.
5 Simple Habits That Can Stop Most Scams
The good news is that most people don’t fall for scams immediately, which is why scammers have to cast a wide net. The bad news is that if you’re not looking for fraud, you may not immediately recognize the signs of a scam.
Don’t despair! There are things you can do to help protect yourself from online scammers. The tips below are not infallible solutions, but they may help you avoid some common yet devastating scams when you encounter them in the wild.
1. Never Pay Someone You’ve Only Met Online
Whenever I ask experts I’m interviewing for other stories to tell me the best cybersecurity advice they give to family and friends, nearly every person says a variation of the following: “Never send money to people you only know online.” That’s because it’s incredibly easy for scammers to spoof a phone number or use a voice-changing tool to impersonate a loved one and ask you for money.
To combat this, I established a code phrase that I use with family and friends to verify our identities when we call each other on the phone or talk via video chat. If someone doesn’t know the phrase or doesn’t remember it, I can hang up and call the person back using the number saved in my phone to ensure I’m speaking with someone I know.
If the phone number calling or texting you doesn’t match the number in your contact list, stop talking to the person immediately, and call them back using the number you saved in your phone. Whenever possible, meet face-to-face when giving someone money.
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2. Slow Down and Confirm Who You’re Talking To
In a similar vein, be cautious about trusting anyone online to be who they claim to be. Plenty of phone and text scams involve criminals willing to use every trick in the book to impersonate real people and get you to hand over your identity, money, or both. Scammers will also collect information about your family and friends to target them in the future.
For example, think of those SMS messages purporting to be from USPS claiming that “Your package cannot be delivered.” It seems like everyone has received at least one of those texts. The link in the message always sends the recipient to a phishing website. According to researchers, some of these phishing sites receive more traffic than the USPS’s own websites, indicating that the scam is effective.
If you’re contacted by someone on behalf of a business or government organization via email or SMS and asked to reply to an urgent request or pay a fine, don’t do it immediately. Instead, search for the business or organization online and verify that the website is legitimate (look for misspellings in the URL). After determining the site’s validity, scroll to the bottom of the page and find the phone number and physical address associated with the business. Call to verify the claims you saw online.
What to Do If You Click on a Phishing Link
3. If a Celebrity Messages You, It’s Probably a Scam
My big celebrity interaction in recent years was when John Cena followed me and about a hundred other journalists on X. I was suspicious immediately because: I have never met John Cena, we don’t work in similar fields, and the only thing we have in common is a deep, undying love for South Korean pop group BTS.
I immediately blocked the profile and moved on with my life. Maybe it was the real John Cena, sitting at home, following technology journalists en masse on a random Tuesday, or, more likely, a scammer looking for fresh victims. I’ll never know for sure, and I’m OK with that.
If you receive an online message from someone claiming to be a celebrity, a famous journalist, or anyone else who would otherwise have no reason to get your attention, don’t respond immediately. Take time to examine their profile to determine if they’ve recently followed many other people. Read their public messages to determine if they are writing the messages themselves or if the text appears to be AI-generated. Do not, under any circumstances, send the person any money.
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4. Strong Emotions Cloud Good Judgment
Scammers want your attention and trust, and they’ll do anything to get to you, including making appeals designed to get you to ignore your intuition and judgment. Perhaps they’ll impersonate a celebrity in need and ask you to send money as soon as possible. Or maybe the scammer will get to know you over a few days on a dating app and then suddenly ask you to do something important very quickly, such as sending them money by a certain date or time. Scammers may also appeal to your sense of empathy with stories of misfortune, hoping you’ll offer to help.
Scammers can appeal to your greedy side, too. Common scams involve enticing you by promising vast amounts of money or a better life in exchange for relatively small sums. It’s how many cryptocurrency investment scams begin, and they always end in financial ruin.
Don’t give in. Stop responding altogether and block the person on every platform. Don’t worry; you didn’t lose a friend, a lover, or an opportunity. You gained safety and security.
5. Make Scamming You More Trouble Than It’s Worth
Scammers are crafty, but they’re also efficient. If you provide some kind of resistance to their scheme, they’ll usually lose interest and try an easier target instead. You’re a number to them, and the more time they spend trying to convince you to give up your money, the more money they could be making while talking to someone else.
One way to browse online safely is to automate some security measures. Many apps, such as antivirus software and security suites, include phishing alerts and malware detection tools that can help with spotting scams.
Use a passkey or password and username combination stored in a password manager to make it harder for a scammer to get into your accounts. Visit the Settings menu in your favorite app or web service to set this up. You should also enable multi-factor authentication using an authenticator app or a hardware security key for each account.
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Turning a Bad Experience Into Protection for Others
You don’t have to do all of this on your own. Getting scammed can feel like an isolating experience, whether you’re embarrassed about the incident or scared of retribution from a criminal. Sharing your experience with people you know can help them avoid a similar circumstance in the future.
I’ve written about how to report an online scam, so see my story for the full rundown. In short, I recommend reporting scams to both federal and local law enforcement where applicable. Your local police and FBI may be unable to help immediately, but it’s still important to leave a record of the incident in case it can be used later.
After that, I recommend reporting the incident to the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Identity Theft Resource Center. You may also want to visit the FTC’s online identity theft recovery center, identitytheft.gov, to follow their advice for your scam recovery scenario. Finally, check out our guide to prevent identity theft from happening in the first place.
About Our Expert
Kim Key
Senior Writer, Security
Experience
I review privacy tools like hardware security keys, password managers, private messaging apps, and ad-blocking software. I also report on online scams and offer advice to families and individuals about staying safe on the internet. Before joining PCMag, I wrote about tech and video games for CNN, Fanbyte, Mashable, The New York Times, and TechRadar. I also worked at CNN International, where I did field producing and reporting on sports that are popular with worldwide audiences.
In addition to the categories below, I exclusively cover ad blockers, authenticator apps, hardware security keys, and private messaging apps.
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