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Oct 24, 2022 · Published Oct. 24, 2022. Updated Oct. 25, 2022. Courtesy: Soumil Kumar (Pexels.com) Claim: An unsolicited email from a suspicious address not associated with the publisher Marquis Who's Who says...
Last year, people reported almost half a million business and government imposter scams directly to the FTC. These reports reveal three trends: Scammers are relying more on text or email messages to start their schemes, and less on phone calls.
- Imposter scams. Imposter scams remained the top fraud category, with reported losses of $2.7 billion. These scams include people pretending to be your bank’s fraud department, the government, a relative in distress, a well-known business, or a technical support expert.
- Investment scams. While investment-related scams were the fourth most-reported fraud category, losses in this category grew. People reported median losses of $7.7K – up from $5K in 2022.
- Social media scams. Scams starting on social media accounted for the highest total losses at $1.4 billion – an increase of 250 million from 2022. But scams that started by a phone call caused the highest per-person loss ($1,480 average loss).
- Payment methods. How did scammers prefer that people pay? With bank transfers and payments, which accounted for the highest losses ($1.86 billion). Cryptocurrency is a close second ($1.41 billion reported in losses).
- Online dating hoaxes. Cyber criminals use online dating apps or social networking sites to strike up conversations with unsuspecting, potential targets.
- Suspicious retailers. Cyber criminals set up a fake store online (or on social media) that offers products at cheaper-than-usual prices or for items you might urgently need.
- Bogus tech support. You receive a request via email, pop-up window or a phone call from tech support claiming your computer or other device has malware.
- Government imposters. You receive a request from someone claiming to be a U.S government agency urging you to settle a debt right away, pay money up front in order to quickly receive some type of federal funds or to verify your personal information.
Nov 4, 2023 · Global online scams have grown rapidly: In 2021, 40% of consumers had seen a scam message across at least two online communication channels. However, in 2022 that number had increased to 68% –...
Oct 6, 2023 · October 6, 2023 / 7:01 PM EDT / MoneyWatch. Online fraudsters have taken billions of dollars from Americans in recent years and they are using social media to do it. Since 2021, Americans...
Jul 18, 2023 · July 18, 2023, 1:09 PM PDT. By Reuters. U.S. regulators on Tuesday announced a nationwide crackdown to stop companies from inundating people with billions of unwanted and illegal robocalls and...
