California has long occupied a special place on President Donald Trump’s list of election grievances.
Asked recently why he was urging his supporters to vote by mail while continuing to claim the method is rife with fraud, Trump singled out one state.
“Start off by taking a look at California,” Trump said. “There is a lot of cheating in vote-by-mail. All over.”
It was far from the first time that Trump had falsely gone after the nation’s largest and most prominent state — which on Thursday became the target of an extraordinary federal lawsuit aiming to bar California officials from counting the ballots of 20,000 people alleged to be noncitizens*.
But during Trump’s second term, these attacks have gone beyond rhetoric — they have increasingly been backed by the machinery of the federal government. Among the Trump administration’s efforts in the Golden State have…
This remains the most prevalent form of financial crime globally. It targets the direct access points to your money: your cards and your bank accounts.
- Skimming: Criminals use small devices called “skimmers” placed over ATM or point-of-sale card slots to capture the data from your card’s magnetic strip.
- Card-Not-Present (CNP) Fraud: This occurs during online shopping where a physical card isn’t required. Thieves use stolen card numbers, expiry dates, and CVV codes to make unauthorized purchases.
- Account Takeover (ATO): A hacker gains access to your online banking credentials (often through malware or phishing) and changes the contact details or passwords, locking you out while they drain your funds.