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The amount of money US consumers are losing to fraud continues to mount, reaching a new record at over $10 billion, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission.
"Digital tools are making it easier than ever to target hard-working Americans, and we see the effects of that in the data we're releasing today,” says FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine.
The data comes from complaints the FTC has received from consumers, along with intel from law enforcement.
In 2023, the commission received 2.6 million fraud reports from consumers, the same amount as the year before. However, the reported losses increased from $8.8 billion to over $10 billion for a 14% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the median loss for a single consumer reached $7,000, up from $3,000 back in 2019.
(Credit: FTC)The most lucrative type of fraud involved investment-related scams, which raked in $4.6 billion in estimated losses. But the most commonly reported fraud involved victims falling for impersonation scams, which netted nearly $2.7 billion in losses. These schemes included the crooks posing as government officials or business representatives.
“Online shopping issues were the second most commonly reported in the fraud category, followed by prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries; investment-related reports; and business and job opportunity scams,” the FTC adds.
For the first time, emails also rose to the top as the method scammers most commonly used to target victims, followed by phone calls and then texts. In addition, the crooks have also been using social media to prey on consumers, which resulted in $1.4 billion lost.
In many cases, US consumers are losing the money after being duped to make a bank transfer to the fraudsters. In other cases, the victims lose their cryptocurrency.
(Credit: FTC)Although the FTC says it's working to crack down on such scams, the report underscores the need for consumers to stay on guard at all times. For tips, check out our guide for ways to spot and avoid the top scams on the internet.