Scammers using confusion amid Trump's tariffs to trick consumers
President Trump's tariff policies could be opening doors for cybercriminals, scammers and hackers looking to make a quick buck off confused consumers, experts warn.
People will expect to be paying more for their goods, but they might not understand where that price will be tacked on — enabling bad actors to request faux tariff-related payments or advertise relief that won't ever come.
BforeAI's PreCrime Labs team found roughly 300 tariff-related domain registrations for cybercriminal use, according to the cybersecurity company's recent report.
Fake package messages and government emails
Customers could be on the receiving end of calls, texts or emails that claim they owe tariffs on a package they've already received or that is headed their way.
Some messages could come from websites and emails that may seem official, given titles like 'U.S. Customs' or 'U.S. Tariffs,' Lifehacker reports.
But don't be fooled. Tariffs are paid by the importing companies, which then raise prices and essentially pass on the price hike to consumers — the average American likely won't have to fork over any tariff payments outside of a typical transaction setting.
Bentley University professor Steve Weisman, creator of Scamicide.com, also warns of emails that look like they're from common delivery services. The phony postal companies may say a package is available for delivery, but only after a tariff is paid.
'In a variation on the previous delivery scam, someone posing as a Federal Express or other delivery service employee actually comes to your home the day after you received a delivery asking you to pay for the tariff on the delivery you received,' Weisman wrote. 'In this case the scammer has learned of the delivery through hacking your computer.'
Tariff-relief payments
Similar to pandemic-era stimulus check scams, consumers should avoid advertisements claiming 'tariff relief payments' from the government.
There is no such thing, as of May 2025, and clicking on links for the supposed relief could lead to phishing sites looking for personal information.
How to avoid tariff scams
Like any other scam, avoiding a tariff-related scheme is a matter of thinking before clicking, confirming or sharing information.
The Better Business Bureau urges potential victims to:
Those who believe they've been a victim of a scam can report the scheme to the BBB at this link.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Can XRP Hit $3 in 2025?
Despite soaring over the last 12 months, XRP prices have plateaued so far in 2025. Could an easing regulatory climate unlock the next leg of growth? 10 stocks we like better than XRP › The cryptocurrency industry has already made its fair share of millionaires, and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is one of the best examples. With prices up by 25,000% over the last decade, a $5,000 investment would be worth over $1.25 million today. To put that into context, a similar bet on the S&P 500 would have netted just $14,200. However, now that the easiest money has already been made, it will be harder for XRP to deliver the same multibagger returns it made in the past. Let's dig deeper to see if the stock can hit $3 in 2025 or beyond. Founded in 2012, Ripple Labs created XRP to fix the shortcomings of older platforms like Bitcoin, which was launched three years prior. The developers realized that blockchain technology was ideal for disrupting the international payments industry, which is currently served by arguably archaic networks like The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which was founded in 1973. SWIFT works by allowing banks to send secure messages to one another before finalizing monetary transfers. XRP's developers wanted to enable users to bypass this process by sending money to one another directly while using XRP tokens as a bridge between different currencies. Practically all cryptocurrencies can serve this function. And newer blockchains, such as Solana, can handle transactions even faster than XRP. Still, as an early mover, XRP has established a level of brand recognition and trust that puts it in the same league as other "blue chip" cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. And this will be key to attracting the risk-averse institutional investors that are finally dipping their toes into this highly speculative asset class. XRP's primary growth catalyst may come from easing regulations on the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. Under the Trump administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun prioritizing regulatory clarity over enforcement, abandoning legal actions against cryptocurrency organizations, including XRP's developer, Ripple Labs. On March 9, the SEC dropped its appeal against an earlier ruling that found Ripple's sales of XRP to retail investors were not considered unregistered securities sales (although sales to institutional investors still were). Ripple Labs finally settled with the SEC, agreeing to pay a fine of $50 million, reduced from the original $125 million imposed last year. The resolution of this regulatory uncertainty could open the door for more financial products based on XRP, like exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which will make the asset accessible to a broader range of investors. With its price tag of $2.24 per unit at the time of this writing, XRP looks tiny compared to other leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are worth $105,404 and $2,649, respectively. But this number is deceptive. XRP's market cap (the value of all its units added together) stands at $130 billion, making it the fourth-largest crypto in the world. And the larger an asset becomes, the harder it will be to grow. With this in mind, investors should remember that it is practically impossible for XRP to repeat the multibagger returns it enjoyed in the past. Even growing by another 1,000% (to $22.40 per unit) would take its market cap well beyond $1 trillion. And it is unclear where that much demand would come from. That said, XRP's path to $3 (a gain of 34% compared to the current price) looks more doable. A combination of regulatory wins and an established brand name could help XRP attract more deep-pocketed investors, especially if an ETF is approved this year. That said, while the digital coin looks poised to continue outperforming the wider cryptocurrency industry, investors should expect future growth to be slow and steady, not fast and explosive. And the path to $3 might not necessarily happen in 2025. Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Will Ebiefung has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Can XRP Hit $3 in 2025? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's feud with Trump likely won't blow up Tesla's robotaxi push, analysts say
Elon Musk's relationship with President Donald Trump imploded in a series of social media posts. Tesla's stock took a 14% dip on Thursday before it recovered some of the losses. Analysts said the feud won't have lasting impacts on Tesla's business, including robotaxis. Elon Musk's public sparring with President Donald Trump last week may have briefly put a dent in Tesla's value, but analysts say they can't see any reason the feud would have a long-term impact on the company's business, including its robotaxi ambitions. The feud between Musk and Trump began with the Tesla CEO's criticism of the GOP's spending bill, which slashes EV tax credits and is estimated to add more than $2.4 trillion to the national deficit. The clash then escalated with threats coming from both sides: Trump threatened to cancel government contracts with Musk's companies, and the CEO fired back by saying he'd shut down SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft before reneging. During Musk's fight with Trump on Thursday, Tesla's stock dipped 14%, wiping out $138 billion from the company's market cap. The company recovered some of the losses the following day. Yet the CEO saw one of his biggest single-day hits to his net worth with an estimated $34 billion loss. Still, some analysts say this storm will pass. "Musk's and Trump's relationship has an impact on the stock and maybe investor sentiment, but as far as the actual business impact for Tesla, I never thought Trump getting elected was positive or that negative for Tesla," Seth Goldstein, Morningstar analyst, told Business Insider. "So with the feud that started between Trump and Musk, I never really viewed that as that positive or negative for Tesla either." While it may not be helpful to no longer be in Trump's good graces, Goldstein said the president has already made clear that he would cut EV subsidies, which the analyst viewed as having the most negative impact not just on Tesla but on all EV makers. Gene Munster, Tesla investor and managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, estimated in a Friday report that the elimination of the tax credits could reduce 2025 deliveries by 15%. As far as Tesla's June robotaxi launch in Austin goes, which Musk says will unlock trillions of dollars of market value for his company, analysts say there's little reason to believe the administration would want to hinder progress there. "In my view, the White House has little to gain in standing in front of autonomy, given autonomy is central to physical AI, and for the US to be a leader globally in AI, it also needs to be a leader in physical AI," Munster said in his Friday report. "The bottom line, I expect cooler heads to prevail and the Federal Government will continue to support the growth of these services." Goldstein told BI that he doesn't see many avenues the administration could take to hinder Tesla's robotaxi progress. He said the Department of Transportation is reviewing federal standards for autonomous vehicle safety. "In theory, if Trump wanted to see Musk face retaliation and target Tesla, they could, say, require autonomous vehicles to have lidar in order to be approved by the federal government for operation, but I don't think they're going to get that detailed," Goldstein said. "I think that Trump could more easily just target SpaceX by just cutting their contracts if he really wanted to hurt Elon, versus making some really weird, nuanced policy." Spokespeople for the DOT and the White House did not respond to a request for comment. In a note on Friday, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote that Musk's feud with Trump doesn't impact the "longer-term vectors that drive the stock's value." "AI leadership, autonomy/robotics, manufacturing, supply chain re-architecture, renewable power, critical infrastructure... Tesla still holds so many valuable cards that are largely apolitical, in our opinion," Jonas wrote. By late Friday afternoon, the online jabs had slowed down, but the Trump-Musk alliance remained on ice. The president told NBC News on Saturday that he doesn't expect to mend his relationship with Musk and warned the CEO against supporting Democratic candidates. Still, during a press gaggle on Air Force One on Friday, Trump said he hadn't thought about Musk but wished him and his company well. "I mean, I hope he does well with Tesla," Trump said. A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's dysfunctional government can learn from these Republican governors
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are struggling to do their jobs because they are losing focus on what they were elected to do. They are creating political sideshows and distractions from the issues that truly matter to Americans, and the issues that voters wanted Trump to fix. Instead of fixing the economy, for example, Trump is locked in a social media battle with Elon Musk. Why? Republicans in control of the federal government should take a note from popular GOP governors who are delivering on what voters actually want without all of the noise that is engulfing the presidency and Congress. Opinion: Musk is angry Trump used him. I'm frustrated we're focusing on the wrong thing. Trump has made progress on securing the border, despite his deportation struggles, but the economy is where he struggles. His unpredictable and ill-advised tariff policy has investors worried, and his administration is pushing a bill that would raise the country's deficit. The old adage 'it's the economy, stupid' rings true even today. If Trump cannot handle the basics of the job, then Americans are unlikely to give him leeway on other issues. In contrast, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is more popular than Trump in the Sunshine State and is overseeing a strong economic run while presiding over a strong public school system. Florida's job growth is outpacing the national average. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is another example. He enjoys extraordinarily high approval ratings, even though Trump had a narrow victory in the state in 2024. He's done so on the back of good job creation marks and, again, a strong public school system. These are two Republican governors doing the job we need the federal GOP to do, instead of the bickering we're seeing unfold on social media. This isn't to say that either of those two governors don't take swings in the culture war. DeSantis is probably best known for his actions against Disney and other social debates. Kemp also has a history of fighting "woke" and dabbling in the culture wars. But in surrounding themselves with competent allies and running the government well, voters give them a longer leash. The lesson here for Trump is to take care of the basic issues that impact voters, then he can get bogged down in his culture war stances. Both Kemp and DeSantis have gotten away with their antics because they are competent executives. Opinion: There is no 'reverse discrimination,' people. There is only discrimination. In state governments, this includes going to the DMV, the quality of public schools and paying taxes. If these types of experiences are painless, people have a more positive view of the government. Federally, this is reflected in the economy, as people's daily lives are most significantly impacted by the state of the economy. Culture war issues matter at the margins, but people broadly vote based on the economy. Because Trump is struggling with the economy, his actions in other areas are a glaring distraction. He could stand to ask governors like DeSantis and Kemp about how to lead along conservative principles without all the mess and failure. Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kemp, DeSantis show Trump how Republicans should govern | Opinion
