Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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The FBI says scammers are selling stakes in campaigns that pay out if a candidate wins, and a donation is never an investment
An offer to put money into a candidate’s campaign and collect a payout if the candidate wins is not a real investment, the FBI says. The bureau is warning that scammers are selling exactly that pitch to political donors this election season. The warning is in an Oct. 15, 2026 alert, number I-101526-3-PSA, from the…
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The FBI says fake voter-registration texts are harvesting personal data
A text arrives saying the recipient is not registered to vote and must fix it right away. The FBI says that message is a trap, and with the 2026 midterm election approaching, the bureau says it is being used now. The warning comes from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3. Its public…
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The FBI says political merchandise sold online is often never shipped
Campaign hats, yard signs, flags and T-shirts sell in an election season, and the FBI says criminals have noticed. Some online sellers of political merchandise take the payment and never send the order. The warning is one of four in an Oct. 15, 2026 public service announcement from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3),…
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Social Security withholds half of a check for a new overpayment after 30 days
Social Security says it will automatically withhold 50 percent of a person’s monthly benefit to collect a new overpayment if the money is not repaid within 30 days of the notice date. The agency describes half of the check as the standard recovery rate for Title II benefits, the retirement, survivor and disability payments most…
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Treasury now requires a hardship waiver for federal benefits paid any way but electronic payment, since paper checks stopped for most payments
The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service says federal benefit payments must now be paid electronically, either by direct deposit to an account at the recipient’s financial institution or by electronic payment to a Treasury-sponsored account, unless the recipient holds a waiver under 31 CFR Part 208. Paper checks have stopped for most federal…
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SSI pays on December 1 and again on December 31, putting two deposits in December with the second at the higher 2027 rate
Supplemental Security Income recipients will see two deposits in December 2026. The first lands Tuesday, Dec. 1, the regular first-of-the-month payment. The second lands Thursday, Dec. 31, and it is the first payment at the higher 2027 rate. The Social Security Administration announced on Oct. 14 that a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment takes effect for…
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Social Security must give an identity-theft victim one contact who tracks the case to completion and coordinates every other office
People whose Social Security numbers have been misused have long described being bounced between field offices, phone lines and departments, repeating the story each time. A new section of the Social Security Act is written to end that: the agency must give each victim one point of contact for the whole case. The section, numbered…
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Dating services that ban a member for fraud will get 24 hours to warn everyone who was messaged, and the FTC will treat a failure as deceptive
Online dating apps will soon have to warn members after they ban someone for fraud. The Romance Scam Prevention Act, H.R. 2481, gives a service 24 hours to tell every member who received a message from the banned account, and a miss is treated as an unfair or deceptive practice under the Federal Trade Commission…
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Washington gives seniors until December 31 and South Dakota’s disabled-veteran deadline is November 1 for next year’s property tax break
Two state revenue departments have posted property-tax deadlines that fall within weeks of each other this fall. South Dakota’s cutoff for the disabled-veteran exemption is November 1, 2026, which is 11 days from today. Washington gives seniors and disabled residents until December 31 to apply for the coming year’s reduction. Each date belongs only to…
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A judge vacated SNAP soda and candy bans in four states
A federal judge in Washington has vacated the approvals that let four states bar SNAP benefits from buying soda, candy and other items, and has ordered that the restrictions may not go forward. The states are Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service now lists all four…