Scam Detective
Scam wave report · Edition 2 · August 2, 2026

This Week's Scam Wave, in Numbers

Scam Detective's research desk documented 10 net-new scam patterns this week — every one deduplicated against our July 30 edition. The shape of the wave, in numbers:

Scam Detective research desk · Published
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10
Net-new scam patterns documented by our research desk this week
6 of 10
Impersonate an institution or person you already trust
4 of 10
Open with an unsolicited phone call or text message
2 of 10
Target people selling on Marketplace — not buying
1 in 10
Risks turning the victim into a parcel mule for stolen goods
The data

The wave, pattern by pattern

01
Jury-duty “missed summons” warrant calls
Arrives via phone call · The costume: Court clerk / police
Yes — scamFull verdict →
02
Utility shutoff threats with a 30-minute countdown
Arrives via phone call / text · The costume: The power company
No — scamFull verdict →
03
Fake “flight cancelled” rebooking texts
Arrives via text message · The costume: Your airline
Verify it yourselfFull verdict →
04
“New number, need money” family texts
Arrives via text / whatsapp · The costume: Your own family member
Yes — scamFull verdict →
05
Marketplace “verification code” buyers
Arrives via marketplace chat · The costume: A cautious buyer
Yes — scamFull verdict →
06
Zelle “business upgrade” payment holds
Arrives via marketplace chat / email · The costume: Zelle + a buyer
Yes — scamFull verdict →
07
PayPal invoices you never ordered
Arrives via email (real paypal system) · The costume: PayPal itself
Real invoice, fake chargeFull verdict →
08
TSA PreCheck lookalike renewal sites
Arrives via search ads · The costume: TSA / DHS
Check the URLFull verdict →
09
Deployed-soldier romance requests
Arrives via dating app / dm · The costume: A soldier overseas
Yes — scamFull verdict →
10
Reshipping “quality inspector” jobs
Arrives via job boards / email · The costume: A shipping employer
No — scamFull verdict →
Analysis

What stands out

01
The costume this week is trust, not technology.
Six of the ten patterns borrow the identity of a court, a power company, an airline, a federal agency, PayPal, or the victim's own family. None of them need malware or a hacked account — the sender's borrowed identity does all the work.
02
Peak travel season is the bait.
Fake flight-cancellation texts and TSA PreCheck lookalike renewal sites both monetize a summer traveler's deadline — one in the hours before departure, one in the weeks before booking.
03
Marketplace sellers are the hunted.
Two patterns flip the direction people expect: they target the seller, not the buyer. Verification-code cons hijack the seller's phone number, and fake Zelle “business upgrades” refund real money against payments that never existed.
04
The exit is always an irreversible rail.
Gift cards, Zelle, crypto, wire transfers — whatever the costume, every script ends where money can't be pulled back. The payment method is the loudest alarm in the wave.
05
One pattern risks more than money.
The reshipping “job” launders goods bought with stolen credit cards through the victim's home address. For that victim the loss can be a police visit, not just a paycheck that never arrives.
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For your readers

What to do now

1
Verify on a channel you open. Court, utility, airline, family member — hang up or close the message, then call the official number or open the official app yourself. Real emergencies survive a two-minute check.
2
Codes and “upgrades” are never real. A verification code sent to your phone is for you alone, and no payment app makes you refund money to receive money — both costumes are Marketplace traps aimed at sellers.
3
Check the link before you pay. Paste it into Scam Detective's instant check ($2, one-time) before entering card details anywhere new — and if you already paid, call your bank or card issuer now.
Methodology

This report is published by Scam Detective's research desk. The figures describe the mix of distinct scam scripts newly documented during the week of July 27 – August 2, 2026: they are counts of scam patterns our desk verified and published as verdict pages at scam-detective5.acoco.ai/answers, not victim counts, loss estimates, or scans of customer-submitted URLs. Patterns are identified from the exact questions people search when a scam reaches them, cross-checked against public warnings from law-enforcement and consumer-protection agencies, including the FBI, the FTC, and state attorneys-general and consumer-protection offices. This edition is deduplicated against our July 30, 2026 edition — every pattern below is net-new, and no entry repeats a pattern already covered in that report.

Each pattern links to its full verdict page. Verdicts are educational, based on documented scam patterns — they are not live Scam Detective reports on specific URLs. Scam Detective does not run continuous monitoring or real-time threat feeds, and nothing in this report is legal advice.

For journalists

Using these figures

You may quote this report with attribution to Scam Detective and a link to this page:

https://scam-detective5.acoco.ai/reports/scam-wave-2026-08-02

Each pattern above links to its full verdict page for background, and the July 30 edition covers the ten patterns documented the prior week. To check a specific URL mentioned in your coverage, the instant check is $2, one-time — no subscription.

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