Crime

Older Americans are under more financial pressure than ever. Unfortunately, scam artists are taking advantage of the sometimes desperate needs of seniors to boost their income, and victims have lost huge portions of their life savings as a result.

The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever, generating lucrative profits for the nation's largest prison companies, and an AP review shows the businesses have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers and contributing to campaigns.

Counterfeiting is a detail-oriented art, but one Arizona man who attempted it wasn't quite scrupulous enough about his fake bills: He attempted to pass a forged $100 bill with a picture-perfect image of Benjamin Franklin -- but a watermark of Abraham Lincoln.

Think counterfeiting only extends to knock-off purses or bootleg DVDs? Think again. Everything is fair game to counterfeiters these days, from computer equipment to car parts -- and, perhaps most frightening of all, the food we eat and the beverages we drink.

U.K. officials are warning tourists traveling to the Olympics to be cautious in their purchases of Olympic-themed merchandise: Police have already seized thousands of pounds of counterfeit Olympic items at ports and airports, ranging from lighters to T-shirts to totes.

For $10, identity thieves can access the full name, Social Security number and other personal information of a dead person through a list of millions of deceased Americans, known as the Death Master File.

As much as President Barack Obama wants your vote, he won't pay your electric bill. But thousands of Americans have been persuaded otherwise, falling victim to a scam that claims to be part of an federal program to help pay utility bills in the midst of this scorching summer.