July 2026
Scamwise Trends
Who scammers impersonated, what's spreading, and what to watch for.
Rankings reflect confirmed scam reports to Scamwise, not total scam volume in the wild.
Top Impersonated Brands
The trusted names scammers hide behind
1.Apple
Fake iCloud storage alerts and AppleCare support calls are the top Apple scams right now.
2.PayPal
Fake invoices and unauthorized-charge alerts that end in a call to a scam “support” line.
3.Amazon
Order, refund, and account-hold lures — plus fake Prime renewal invoices with a number to call.
4.USPS
Package “redelivery” fee texts that lead to card-harvesting lookalike sites.
5.Microsoft
Fake Defender/365 renewal invoices and browser-locking security pop-ups with a “support” number.
6.McAfee
The auto-renewal refund scam — a fake invoice, a refund call, and a remote-access trap.
7.Roblox
Free-Robux generators and chat phishing built specifically to fool kids.
8.Costco
Membership renewal and member-reward lures that end at a fake payment page.
9.Cash App
Fake “business payment” holds and security alerts around money that’s almost yours.
10.Best Buy / Geek Squad
The Geek Squad renewal-invoice phone scam — call to cancel, and the refund is the trap.
Emerging trends
What's circulating now
Online Scam Storefronts Are the #1 Thing People Check
Fake online storefronts are the single largest category in Scamwise data and continue to accelerate in growth. AI has industrialized this motion — scam storefronts can now be generated by the hundreds per day.
Scammers Use Roblox to Target Kids
Roblox-related scam submissions have skyrocketed, making Roblox the first kids' platform ever to reach our Brand Imposter Leaderboard top 10 — with scams engineered specifically for how children trust.
Pig-Butchering's Share Has Doubled
Romance scams that turn into pig-butchering style investment scams continue to grow in share of scam cases — from a friendly "wrong number" text to a polished fake trading platform showing gains that can never be withdrawn.
Task Scams Turn a Job Offer Into a Deposit
An unsolicited text from a "recruiter" offers easy remote work — liking videos, rating hotels, boosting apps. The early tasks actually pay. Then, to withdraw your earnings, you must first deposit your own money.
The Fake Party Invitation That Spreads to Your Contacts
An invitation that looks like it came from Punchbowl, Evite, Paperless Post, or Partiful — and appears to be from a real friend — leads to a page built to steal your email password, then spreads the scam to your contacts.
One-Ring “Wangiri” Calls Are Surging
An unfamiliar number rings once and stops — return the call and you're routed to a premium-rate international line. Wangiri-style traffic nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2026.
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