Mike Brookbank

4 weeks ago | news5cleveland.com | Mike Brookbank

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Organized crime rings are constantly working to get our personal information and money. I caught up with a Northeast Ohio man who is trying to disrupt a process that is a 24/7/365 operation. For a few hours each day, the man who goes by the name Eastside Eddie is going toe-to-toe with the scammers who have their sights on all of us. He asked us to not use his real name or show his face due to the nature of his work from a converted bedroom inside his home.

1 month ago | news5cleveland.com | Sara Roth |Mike Brookbank

CLEVELAND — Rocket Arena is hosting the first and second rounds of the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament on March 21 and 23. Some of the games are sold out, but if you're hoping to score tickets on the secondary market, you need to proceed with caution. "Until you go up to the venue and get your ticket scanned, there's no way to verify that the ticket is legitimate," said Ericka Dilworth, Director of Operations at the Better Business Bureau serving Greater Cleveland.

1 month ago | news5cleveland.com | Mike Brookbank

AKRON, Ohio — An area twice the size of Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood in Asheville, North Carolina, was essentially wiped off the map by floodwaters from Hurricane Helene. The devastation delivered a major blow to Asheville's River Arts District. As the city dried up, so did the tourism dollars artists there rely on to pay their bills and create. I continue to follow through on Northeast Ohio's role in the recovery efforts underway.

1 month ago | news5cleveland.com | Sara Roth |Mike Brookbank

MENTOR, Ohio — Police in Mentor report scams targeting seniors are at an all-time high. Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank spoke to Lt. Rich Slovenkay about the increase. Slovenkay said detectives receive scam reports two to three times each week. One Mentor woman lost more than $660,000 in a cryptocurrency scam. The scheme started with an unsolicited text message.

1 month ago | news5cleveland.com | Sara Roth |Mike Brookbank

CLEVELAND — With technology like artificial intelligence getting smarter every day, it's becoming harder to detect and prevent fraud. Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank spoke with Ericka Dilworth from the BBB in Cleveland about how scammers are using AI to commit crimes. "They make the phone calls more reasonable, you know, there's just so much out there that makes it hard for you to determine whether it's real or not," said Dilworth.