January 1, 2026

CyberSecurity Source | Winter 2026

Cyber Security

Scams to Watch Out for in 2026

One reason scammers are so difficult to stop, experts say, is they keep raising their game. They’re continually perfecting their scams, taking advantage of new technology and updating their methods to better manipulate their targets.

Scammers have become much better at impersonating legitimate institutions over the years, including creating websites and messages that are “carbon copies” of legitimate health care providers, businesses, and banks, with fewer obvious mistakes and other red flags.

With some help from the AARP, we’ve detailed four scams to be aware of.

AI Impersonation Scams

Criminals utilize artificial intelligence to produce highly convincing voice clones and deep-fake videos. These frequently mimic distressed family members or even business representatives claiming some type of urgent issue. The voices sound like somebody the target may know, which can cause a heightened emotional response. If anything feels suspicious, stop the interaction and contact the individual or organization directly using a verified phone number.

Fake Online Shopping Deals

Online sales in honor of the New Year present excellent opportunities to save money, but also a prime environment for fraudulent websites and counterfeit goods. If a discount seems too good to be true, it is likely not legitimate. Always check the URL, verify the site's security, and shop exclusively with trusted retailers.

Shipping Scams

Scammers send realistic text messages or emails that appear to originate from common delivery companies. These communications often instruct you to click a link to rearrange a delivery time or pay for a small fee. These links lead to malware or phishing sites. When in doubt, disregard the provided link and visit the carrier’s official website.

Gift Card and Payment App Requests

No legitimate business or government organization will ever demand payment via gift cards, wire transfers, or payment apps. These methods are attractive to criminals because the funds are nearly impossible to trace. If a request for this type of payment is received, it is a clear indication of a scam.

Beware of Account Takeover Fraud

The FBI warns of cyber criminals impersonating financial institutions to steal money or information in Account Takeover (ATO) fraud schemes. The cyber criminals target individuals, businesses, and organizations of varied sizes and across sectors. In ATO fraud, cyber criminals gain unauthorized access to the victim’s online financial institution, payroll, or health savings account, with the goal of stealing money or information. Since January 2025, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 5,100 complaints reporting ATO fraud, with losses exceeding $262 million.

How It Works

The cyber criminal impersonates the financial institution's staff or website, to obtain access to the account. Cyber criminals usually gain access to accounts through social engineering techniques, like texts, calls, and emails, or through fraudulent websites.

Social Engineering

A cyber criminal manipulates the account owner into giving away their login credentials, including the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code or One-Time Passcode (OTP), by impersonating a financial institution employee, customer support, or technical support personnel. The cyber criminal then uses login credentials to log into the legitimate financial institution website and initiate a password reset, ultimately gaining full control of the accounts.
Social engineering methods include contacting account owners via fraudulent text messages, calls, or emails to trick the email recipient into providing their login credentials. In some instances, the cyber criminal states there are fraudulent transactions on the financial account and may provide a link to a phishing website that the account owner believes will report the fraud or prevent additional fraudulent transactions.
In some instances, cyber criminals impersonating financial institutions reported to the account owner that their information was used to make fraudulent purchases. The cyber criminal convinces the account owner to provide information to a second cyber criminal impersonating law enforcement, who then convinces the account owner to provide account information.

Phishing Domains/Websites

The cyber criminal uses a phishing website that looks like the legitimate online financial institution or payroll website to trick the account owner into giving away their login credentials. Believing the phishing website is the legitimate one, users enter their login credentials into the fraudulent site, unknowingly providing them to cyber criminals.

Once the impersonators have access and control of the accounts, the cyber criminals quickly transfer funds to other criminal-controlled accounts, many of which are linked to cryptocurrency wallets; meaning funds are disbursed quickly and are difficult to trace and recover. In some cases, including nearly all social engineering cases, the cyber criminals change the online account password, locking the owner out of their own financial account.

How To Stay Protected

Stay vigilant against ATO fraud attempts by following these tips.

Be careful about the information you share online.

By openly sharing information like a pet's name, schools you have attended, your date of birth, or information about your family members, you may give scammers the information they need to guess your password or answer your security questions.

Regularly monitor your financial accounts

Watch for irregularities, such as missing deposits or unauthorized withdrawals, wire transfers, or expenditures. The easiest way to do this is by enrolling in Online Banking to access your account information anytime, anywhere.

Always use unique passwords

Enable two-factor authentication or MFA on any account possible. Never disable it.

Use bookmarks or favorites for login websites

Avoid clicking on Internet search results or advertisements. MFA will not protect you if you land on a fraudulent login page. Carefully examine any email address, URL, or spelling in unsolicited correspondence.

Stay vigilant against phishing attempts

Be suspicious of unknown "banking" or "company" employees who call you; don't trust caller ID. Hang up, verify the correct number, and call it yourself.

If you've received a call or text claiming to be from the CorTrust Bank Fraud Department, asking for account credentials, hang up and contact your local branch immediately. Remember, we will never ask for account credentials.

What To Do in Case of an Account Takeover Incident

Reset or Revoke Compromised Credentials

Reset all credentials and passwords that may have been exposed during the takeover. If you use the compromised password for other online accounts, change your password on those sites too.

File a Complaint

File a detailed complaint with www.ic3.gov. It is vital the complaint contains all required data in provided fields, including banking information.

Identifying information about the cyber criminals including the financial institution impersonated, name, phone number, address, and email address.
Any websites or software the cyber criminals may have asked you to visit or download.
Any financial accounts provided or used by the cyber criminals.
Include the words "Account Takeover" in the incident description.

Notify the Impersonated Company

Notify the company that was impersonated of the method the cyber criminals used to target the account owner. The company may be able to warn others to watch out for the scam and take proactive measures like requesting phishing pages be taken down.

Stay Informed

Visit www.ic3.gov for updated Industry Alerts and Public Service Announcements regarding ATO trends, as well as other cyber fraud schemes.