12 Money Scams To Avoid in 2025
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Oh, look at that. I just got a text. UPS unable to deliver your package that I never ordered. Better click this link right away and give them all my banking info to ensure my package is delivered in a timely manner. Not!

Think I'm falling for that? If you feel like you've been getting more scam calls and texts lately, you're not alone. Over a trillion dollars was lost to scammers in 2024, according to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, or GASA for short. So today we're running through some of the biggest scams draining bank accounts in 2025 to see how they work and more importantly, how to dodge them. But first, have you heard about the scam where people watch a YouTube channel without subscribing or clicking the like button?

Don't fall for it, guys. Do not fall for it. All you gotta do to avoid this one is click like and subscribe. So easy. Scam avoided. Okay, the first scam on our list was the number one most commonly reported type of scam in 2023. That year alone, criminals used this type of scam to steal $2.7 billion. We're talking about imposter scams.

This is where a scammer pretends to be your bank, your boss, your family, or even the IRS, and tries to convince you to send them money to resolve some sort of urgent issue. They can even spoof real phone numbers to make it look legit. And now with AI, they can mimic your sweet meemaw's voice to make you think it's her calling and asking for money. Super creepy.

Not the AI, just Meemaw's voice in general. Very alarming. - Get ready with me to tell a guy off. - So here's major red flags to help you spot these scams. If they demand urgency, like, "Your account is locked, call now," or, "Reply to this number as soon as possible to avoid charges to your account," then you can definitely and confidently ignore it and market as spam. And if you get a weird call from Meemaw saying she's been kidnapped and her captors are demanding that you wire them $5,000 ASAP,

app, just hang up and immediately call her back because that can't be spoofed. I guarantee the real me ma will have no idea what you're talking about. Plus, the fact that you called will make her day.

Love you. A good rule of thumb to help you avoid this kind of scam altogether, if you get a call from a number you don't recognize, don't answer it. If it's truly important, they can leave a voicemail and then you can Google the number and call them back. And if it's your dentist calling to remind you they haven't seen you in five years, you can just block that number and keep living your life only chewing on the left side of your mouth to avoid the pain. I'm kidding. Go to the dentist, guys, all right? And only brush the teeth you want to keep. Dentist humor.

Holy molars. Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth. Okay, scam number two, online shopping scams. This often involves fake websites designed by tech-savvy criminals to look just like the real thing. You type one wrong letter in the URL and boom, you're on a scam site designed to steal your debit or credit card info.

And these sites can be pretty convincing, but there's usually some signs it's not the real deal. Some red flags to watch out for are misspelled words on the page and in the URL. And one way to avoid this type of scam is by Googling the store and clicking on the search result rather than typing in the web address directly, because we are bound to fat finger it as humans. And if it's a story you've never heard of, check reviews on sites like Trustpilot. And Google the store's name with the word scam before you add those high-waisted cat leggings to cart. Scam number three is prize and lottery scams.

This is where you get a message saying you've won some kind of drawing or contest, but then the scammer tells you you'll need to pay some kind of fee to claim your prize. Hate to break it to you, but if you never entered a contest, you didn't win one. You're kidding me.

Some big red flags for this one: they usually demand immediate action and they ask for payment in gift cards or wire transfers, or they say the government is holding your winnings hostage. I know it sounds obvious that this is a scam, but people actually fall for this stuff. Otherwise, scammers wouldn't do it. Scam number four: fake investment scams. This is the biggest scam by dollar amount: $4.6 billion. And the biggest targets of this type of scam are sadly two of the most vulnerable groups: retirees

and crypto bros. Nice. Nice. Nice. Hey, green means good, right? One indicator you might be dealing with an investment scam is someone calling themselves an advisor, hard-selling you into some kind of opportunity, or sharing a little-known wealth secret that sounds too good to be true. So if someone tries to push you into something like gold, crypto, or day trading with guaranteed results, run away faster than Tom Cruise in literally any of his movies. Guaranteed returns equals guaranteed scam.

And again, you can always do a quick Google search or Reddit search to confirm your suspicions. Remember, when it comes to investing, all you need are good old boring retirement accounts like your company 401k and a Roth IRA. As soon as you're financially ready to invest, put away 15% of your income into these tax advantaged accounts and then sit back and watch your nest egg grow over time. No need to complicate things with meme coins, foreign exchange investing and bars of precious metal.

Scam number five on the list, fake job listings and MLM scams. What we're talking about here is multi-level marketing scams, fake remote jobs, and any other send us money to get started type of gigs. The reality is real jobs don't charge you to work for them. They pay you. That's how the whole job thing works. So here's how to avoid getting job juked. If you see a job posting that sounds great, but you have questions, concerns, nausea, heartburn, or indigestion, Google the company before applying and see what people are saying. Especially if the job seems unproductive

a little sus or a little too good to be true. And even if the company is legit, instead of clicking apply directly on a job posting site, see if you can find the position listed on the company's actual website. Then you know you're not just sending your personal info straight to a scammer. Scam number six, QR code scams. This

This is where scammers replace real QR codes, like the ones you see at restaurants or on parking meters or in emails, and they replace them with fake QR codes that steal your payment info. Some scammers even mail them to people in letters that appear to come from government agencies. You know how you're not supposed to click a link in a suspicious email? Well, QR codes are basically just printed out links that you can't read, so you gotta be careful here.

So don't go around scanning QR codes willy-nilly like you're catching Pokemon or geocaching. And when you do scan them, always check the URL it leads you to, especially before you enter any personal info. Scam number seven is social media marketplace scams. Now, this type of scam can take several forms. Here's how one of them works. You list something online, and a scammer says they want to buy it. Then they claim they've sent you a payment through Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App, but...

the money never actually arrives. Then they'll send you fake screenshots of pending payments to pressure you into shipping the item or sending it digitally. Spoiler, the money's never coming. And that custom Dave Ramsey Funko Pop, you just mailed it to a criminal. Shame.

Another tactic they use is called the vanishing seller. Here's how this terrible magic trick works. Let's say you find a sweet, wacky-waving, inflatable, arm-flailing tube man on Facebook Marketplace, and you contact the seller to buy it. You send the money, and the seller promises the ship said wacky-waving, inflatable, arm-flailing tube man, and then the seller disappears faster than a spirit Halloween on November 1st.

Now, you're left with no wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man, no refund, and a lesson you didn't care to learn. Another way they get you on social is with shipping scams. Scammers will insist on shipping the item instead of meeting in person, and they'll promise to provide tracking details after you send payment. But instead of a package, you get radio silence and your hard-earned cash is gone.

So if you want to avoid these online marketplace scams, one thing you can do is always agree to meet in person whenever possible. If a seller refuses to meet locally, that's a red flag. Legitimate sellers should have no problem arranging a meetup in a safe public place like the Bojangles parking lot. It's Bo time. Did you say Bojangles? A little bit of Bojangles too, girl. And best part, you can celebrate after the transaction with a little chicky bisky. Not sponsored, but open to it. Call me Mr. Jangles or Bo for...

On good terms. Another thing you can do to avoid these scams, never pay with gift cards or wire transfers. Both red flags. Scammers love non-refundable, non-traceable payment methods. Because once the money's gone, it's gone. So stick to cash or make sure your payment app offers some sort of protection for buyers. Venmo and PayPal have options like this. Okay, so all the scams we've mentioned up to this point are attempts by criminals to get you to send them money. So they require you to be an active participant.

But some scammers are out to steal your money by stealing your identity so they can have unfettered access to your finances. So let's look at some of the top identity theft scams. Scam number eight on the list, credit card fraud. This is the most common form of ID theft, with over 416,000 cases reported in 2023. Credit card fraud can happen when someone obtains and misuses your credit card info or when scammers apply for new credit cards in your name and you don't even notice until you check your credit report.

But there's a pretty easy way to prevent this from happening, and that's to freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus. That way no one, including you, can open an account, apply for a loan, or get a new credit card using your financial info. This is a totally free process, and it's not going to hurt your credit score. And an added bonus, it may even encourage you to live a life without debt. And that is a win-win-win. Great.

Really great. You can get a free credit report from each of the major three bureaus once a week at annualcreditreport.com. And once a week is overkill in my book, but be sure to keep tabs on this at least once or twice a year minimum. Scam number nine, bank account takeovers. This is where you wake up to a drained bank account because scammers stole your login credentials.

Where did they get your username and password? Could have been phishing emails, malware on your device, or even from a data set they bought on the dark web from hackers who stole it from one of the plethora of companies who has your personal info. So it's a good idea to use multi-factor authentication and to make sure you're using a strong password. Something like, she's just being Miley underscore 1987. But the S is a five and the E is a three. You get the idea. Don't use that exact one. That one's mine.

Anything else, fair game. Most banks will let you know if they see any suspicious activity in your account. But in case they miss anything, it's still a good idea to log in once a day to make sure there aren't any weird transactions, like, say, a $590 charge from Panera. It's a lot of broccoli, cheddar soup, tiny apples, and for some reason, rock-hard bread. Rock-hard. What's going on there? Not safe to say, but it looks ha-ha-ha-ha.

If you do see fraudulent charges, report it to your bank immediately. Now, I know checking your account this often may sound like a hassle, but if you use your bank's app, it's super quick and easy. Just open the app, give it a quick once over, and close it. Bada bing, bada boom. Another way you can keep tabs on your account is by setting up automatic transaction alerts. So you get a text and or email anytime money comes out of your account. The only downside is your wife will now know just how much you stopped by 7-Eleven to get a spicy garlic chicken roller and a Mountain Dew Code Red. But let's be real. She knows you share a bathroom.

She knows. Now, I'd be remiss to not mention a great way to get your personal info off the web and out of the hands of scammers and spammers. And that's by using Delete.me, a sponsor of today's video. Delete.me finds and removes your info from hundreds of data broker sites, and they even send you a report showing you what they did and how much time they've saved you.

And they've saved me 77 hours already, which is more time I can spend scaling my custom Funko Pop Etsy business. So to help protect yourself from the risks of online scams and data breaches, get Delete.me. Right now, you can get 20% off any of their plans by going to joindeleteme.com slash george or click the link in the description below.

And speaking of saving money, if you're stashing cash in a regular old savings account earning dismal interest, it's time to switch to a high-yield savings account like the one offered by online bank Laurel Road, another sponsor of today's video. With Laurel Road, your account balance earns top-tier APY, so your money is making you more money. Whether you're saving up for a new car, a down payment on a house, or a whole storage unit full of wacky, wavy, inflatable tube men. Plus, we're

Okay, back to the scams. Scam number 10,

SIM swapping attacks. This is where scammers trick your phone carrier into transferring your number to their SIM card. This allows them to bypass two-factor authentication and lock you out of your account. This one's really scary because it can happen without your involvement. They're tricking the phone carrier, not you. One way to protect yourself from this is to add a PIN code to your mobile carrier account. This way, unless the scammer knows your PIN, your mobile service provider won't make any changes to your account. Scam number 11, student loan and debt relief scams. This is where someone tells you that

They'll erase your student loans if you just pay them a small fee, which sounds great because student loans are a huge burden for a lot of people. But no legit debt relief company charges upfront fees. So stay away from anyone offering you student loan relief in exchange for money. It's a scam and yet another reason to avoid student loans altogether and debt relief companies while you're at it.

Scam number 12, fake tax refunds. This is where scammers impersonate IRS agents or tax preparers, promising to get you a refund if you just verify your personal information. But in reality, they're either stealing your identity or filing a fake return in your name, and you could be on the hook for it later. Avoiding this type of scam is relatively straightforward.

Only use a tax pro you trust and don't trust anyone claiming to be the IRS. The IRS will never call, email, or text you demanding immediate action. If they need to contact you, they will send a letter via U.S. Mail first. They're old school like that.

So if someone calls you saying you owe money and you need to pay right now, just hang up and report them. And that's a common theme you see with a lot of these scams. They want you to panic and act fast in order to avoid some made-up consequence or to get in on some made-up get-rich-quick thing. But don't fall for it. Stay calm, slow down, and think clearly. And never underestimate the power of a strong password. Like that's so ravenfanboy underscore one two three, but the S is a five and the E is a three. You get the idea. Also, don't take that one either.

I try to switch up my passwords on different accounts, really throw them off the center of the trail. You really cooking up a little scheme here, aren't you? And if you want some more tips for staying safe out there, there's a great article on how to prevent identity theft, and I will link it in the description below. But there's something else we should talk about here. Even if your bank account is safe from thieves and hackers, there could be something else slowly draining your bank account without you even realizing it. I'm talking about money leaks. To find out what they are, keep watching this next video or click the link in the description below.

And if you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like and subscribe and share it with your friend who's currently on his way to Piggly Wiggly to wire $1,400 to a stranger slash scammer. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Oh, and call your Meemaw.