SENTINEL^TM by IDSTRONG

The explosive growth of cryptocurrencies was nothing short of extraordinary. Even the most doubtful among us couldn't help but put a few dollars in to see what would happen.

Roughly 20 percent of all retail sales occur online. This statistic may sound lukewarm now, but e-commerce is rapidly becoming the lion's share of global transactions.

Embezzlement is an internal crime that someone commits against their organization. The perpetrator's inside knowledge helps them avoid detection and clean up the evidence.

Hackers and cybercriminals aim to steal as much information from their victims as possible. Unique technologies allow them to get creative and attack in ways their victims aren't prepared for.

In 2023, GoBankingRates. com found that 15 percent of Americans have over $5,000 in credit card debt. Additionally, many people will start searching for relief with student loan payments returning.

Global consumers have suffered many hardships in recent years: pandemics, historic inflation levels, and rising crime everywhere.

There are a few universal methods by which we fantasize about getting rich. We could win the lottery or inherit a fortune from a long-lost relative.

A lot of scams float around the internet that some people jump at or take a little coaxing to overcome the rejections. A few scams have ready-made targets more than willing to take advantage of the possibilities the scam offers.

Money laundering is a crime with roots dating back nearly 2000 years ago. Hiding profits from extortion and greedy government officials, Chinese merchants converted profits into hard assets and moved them out of the territory.

Debt relief scams proliferate when significant amounts of financial suffering and confusion arise. The Department of Education has created a golden opportunity for predators to scam collegians seeking relief from burdensome student loan debt.

Texting has taken over the global communication space; marketers and predators are seeing huge dollar signs. Email continues to be a reliable, but somewhat fraught with problems, alternative form of communication.

One of the hottest online trends is auction sites selling everything from toys to cars and items tucked away in a closet. Sites such as Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and Decluttr, provide a way for anyone to sell anything. 

Etsy, since 2005, has been a marketplace for millions of small business owners, selling everything from jewelry to toys. Without a doubt, an online criminal is lurking around every virtual corner.

Bitcoin changed the financial landscape in 2009; according to CoinMarketCap, there are now over 21,900 cryptocurrencies with a total market cap of $850 billion.

Gift cards are a great way to give others presents if they have run out of time or just do not know what gift to buy. Gift cards can be purchased everywhere, from grocery stores to the merchants who issue them.

The first reverse mortgage was created in 1961 by Nelson Haynes of Deering Savings and Loan in Portland, Maine. The mortgage was created to help an elderly wife stay in the home after her husband passed away suddenly.

Packages and letters sent to others through commercial postal services such as the United States Postal Service can now be tracked using an 8 to 40-digit code.

The financial industry is booming, with innovative companies finding new ways to disrupt how we manage money. From peer-to-peer lending to mobile wallet solutions, fintech is the future of financial services.

Rewind to the early 2000s when it required real people to annoy us with cold calls and scams. We treated these interactions as infrequent nuisances and rarely did anything to stop them.

Computers are, arguably, one of the most essential items necessary for life in modernity. Through them, not only can we be entertained, but we can be informed or critiqued.

Cryptocurrency's brief history began in 2009 and has seen the various crypto coins rise to become a global phenomenon. The industry is still in its infancy and constantly evolving, which makes it difficult to predict the next stage of development.

You get an email, or maybe a text, and it says someone stole your bank user name and password. But, if you hurry, you can log in and change them before your funds leave your account!

When you think of scams, you probably think of them as someone trying to trick you out of money. While data loss is typically not the primary goal of a scam, it can be the outcome.

Smishing is the latest form of phishing that has taken the mobile world by storm. It's not a new concept, but it has been modified to suit today's fast-paced society and accessibility to mobile devices.

Botnet scams are multi-fold in their danger. Each botnet scam requires a criminal and a series of victims. Victims are those who have had their computers hijacked, plus the targets of the criminal's assaults.

With nearly $160 billion in total payment volume for 2020, Venmo is quickly growing into one of the most popular peer-to-peer, or P2P, payment systems on the market.

Speculation proliferates on the internet. Everyone wants to be on the ground floor of money-making, buzz-building events. That means many people will buy something they don't understand for a price that is likely to spike – and collapse--quickly.

Americans can be very generous people: we donate more than $470 billion to charities annually. In this way, we are doing what we can to alleviate the suffering of others who are victims of natural disasters, famine, poor opportunities, joblessness, and lack of nutrition.

Spear phishing is unlike other forms of phishing. These cybercriminals collect personal information to create elaborate scams.

There are more and more cybersecurity risks arising every day. Companies and institutions need to be aware of them and develop policies to prevent cybercrime.

It happens suddenly, causing alarm for computer users: the screen freezes, the cursor arrow zigzags wildly, then a notice appears that says the machine has a dangerous virus and the user needs to call tech support to authorize immediate help.

Apple Pay is an app that allows you to pay for goods and services by using an iPhone, watch, or similar device. With Apple Pay, credit and debit card information is loaded onto your phone (or iPad or Apple Watch) and then tokenized, so your actual card data is not stored on your device.

The FTC received 4.8 million identity theft reports in 2020 alone, an increase of 45 percent from the previous year. There are various ways cybercriminals can steal your identity, whether that be through malicious software, false websites, or other online scams.

Email phishing is one of the most common cyber-crimes, and currently, Netflix subscribers are being targeted with an email scam.

People depend on text messages for much more than sending emojis during boring meetings. People send 13 trillion texts worldwide every day, averaging 13 for each person.

Americans are generous people who donate some $300 million to charity each year. That figure ensures that charity scams will be around forever.

 For nearly two years, the vast majority of the world has been affected by Covid-19. It is indisputable that Covid-19 has changed many things about our world and how we live our lives.

 You may or may not have heard the term "brushing scam," but they are another fraudulent technique scammers use to dupe you and ultimately benefit them financially.

 We've all heard the horror stories of people being duped online by someone pretending to be someone else. There is a term for this type of online fraud, and it is called catfishing.

 2020 and the pandemic brought with it a flurry of fraudulent activity affecting various targets to steal money and personal information for identity theft.

 Telemarketing is nothing new, but unwanted calls or letters about auto warranties have become an out-of-control scam, and it's difficult to stop the madness.

 Buying and selling real estate is exciting and can also be stressful. However, if you are caught up in a scam during the process, the affected could be devastating.

 Scammers find new ways all the time of cheating people and companies out of money, information, or other valuables. One popular scam making the rounds is mortgage fraud.

 The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a lot of people to adopt pets. Social distancing and quarantine have made us crave the comfort and companionship of a kitten or puppy.

The Coronavirus has undoubtedly changed the landscape of things. Along with the pandemic, cybercrime is at an all-time high, and one of the ways that hackers and thieves are benefiting is through stimulus check fraud.

Credit card fraud is a lucrative business, and criminals are raking it in using a variety of methods to steal your hard-earned money.

Back in the days of the landline, we had only the option of answering the phone to find out who was on the other end of the line.

Facebook is undoubtedly the most popular social media platform on the planet. Connecting with long lost friends and family is great; sharing news and information is fun.

If you have a case of wanderlust and can't get enough of traveling the globe to exotic places, you will want to balance all that excitement with some caution.

Phone scams are nothing new, but the perpetrators have become wilier and more sophisticated, using a variety of techniques to separate hard-working individuals and their money.

Working from home offers you flexibility, freedom, and autonomy. It sounds like a dream come true, but for many Americans, the dream becomes a nightmare when they are conned by a work-from-home scam. 

Investment scams are another effective way criminals separate U.S. citizens from their life-long savings. Sometimes the scammer calls out of the blue; other times, you might receive an enticing email or visit a website after seeing an ad that you just can't resist reading about.

You get something in the mail or receive a call saying you have won a huge cash prize! In your excitement, you don't think too heavily about the fact that you never entered any contest or sweepstakes, so how could you have won?

Never underestimate the creativity and resourcefulness of scammers. Unfortunately, the United States is full of trusting Americans who fall victim to scams and lose millions every year.

Scammers will use any means possible to get at your wallet and steal your identity. One of the more disturbing methods which has been making the rounds, is con artists pretending to call from the Social Security Administration, and they threaten you to give them money or information.

You may or may not have heard of the National Do Not Call Implementation Act. The do not call list is a database of consumer phone numbers who have requested that telemarketers not call them.

Scammers have gotten very clever, and another scam targeting Americans is the IRS Scam. It's when a person calls you pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service and demands back taxes (usually thousands of dollars) immediately.

Scammers are always looking for a way into your wallet. Another way hackers trick unsuspecting victims is through fake online shopping websites or faked ads to real sites that redirect the user to a spoofed website.

Scammers are continually devising new ways to dupe innocent victims out of their hard-earned money. The latest rash of scams involves phone calls from Sierra Leone that rack up exorbitant charges on your phone bill.

Scam artists prey on vulnerable individuals like students, seniors, and others who are more likely to fall for their false promises and flashy advertisements.

Peer-to-peer payment apps are all the rage these days. People use them for swapping money back and forth between friends and family and sometimes for commercial use; this is where the trouble begins.

PayPal is one of the top digital currency exchanges in the world. Nearly everyone has heard of PayPal and has used it at least once to receive or make a payment.

Craigslist is a website used for localized classified ads. It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark. He initially set it up for the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived.

Scams have been around a long time, that's nothing new. One of the most disturbing and heartbreaking scams, however, is the romance scam.

Scams are creeping into all areas of life these days. Any new type of technology is at risk. Bitcoin scams are on the rise right now because this revolutionary type of currency is becoming a hot topic everywhere.

Senior scams are becoming a major epidemic for two reasons. First, seniors often have a lot of money in the bank from a life of working hard and saving.