Vasily Pindyurin | fStop | Getty ImagesConsumers lost a record $10 billion to fraud in 2023, and imposter scams were the most prevalent swindle, according to the Federal Trade Commission.Nearly 854,000 people filed complaints to the FTC about imposter scams in 2023. This represents 33% of the total consumer fraud reports filed to the agency.Consumers lost $2.7 billion to such scams in 2023, according to FTC data. The average loss was $800.[embedded content]Imposter scams come in many forms, but share a basic premise: Criminals pretend to be someone you trust to persuade you to send them money, or to get information that can later be leveraged for money, experts said.People may falsely claim to be a romantic interest, the government, a relative in distress, a well-known business or a technical support expert, the FTC said in a recent report.Fraudsters, often part of sophisticated organized crime networks, may contact potential victims via channels such as e-mail, phone call, text, mobile apps, social media or traditional snail mail.The internet has ‘really supercharged’ imposter scamsGovernment impersonators, for example, might suggest they work for the Social Security Administration, IRS, Medicare or even the FTC. Others may say they’re from a company such as Amazon or Apple and claim there’s something wrong with your account, or from your utility company threatening to turn off service. Others may say they’re a close friend or family member and need money for an emergency.More from Personal Finance:FBI: ‘Financial sextortion’ of teens is ‘rapidly escalating threat’How this 77-year-old widow lost $661,000 in a common tech scamWhy this popular service is like ‘payday lending on steroids’Nascent and improving technology, such as artificial intelligence and voice cloning, has made these frauds more convincing, experts said.”These scams have been around forever, really, but the internet has really supercharged them,” said John Breyault, vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Consumers League. “The scammers seem to be getting better at what they’re doing.”Additionally, imposter scams have a low barrier to entry for criminals, another likely reason they’ve proliferated, said Hardeep Rai, product director at Feedzai, a fraud detection service used by financial institutions.”You get [hold of] a bunch of phone numbers and call,” Rai said. “It’s an infinitely scalable fraud in that sense.”Older adults tend to lose more moneyOlder victims were less likely than younger ones to report losing money to all types of fraud, but their typical loss was higher. For example, victims age 80 and older had a median loss of $1,450; by comparison, the typical loss didn’t exceed $500 for those younger than 70.The FBI reported last year that a subset of imposter scam — a type of tech-support fraud known as a “phantom …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnVasily Pindyurin | fStop | Getty ImagesConsumers lost a record $10 billion to fraud in 2023, and imposter scams were the most prevalent swindle, according to the Federal Trade Commission.Nearly 854,000 people filed complaints to the FTC about imposter scams in 2023. This represents 33% of the total consumer fraud reports filed to the agency.Consumers lost $2.7 billion to such scams in 2023, according to FTC data. The average loss was $800.[embedded content]Imposter scams come in many forms, but share a basic premise: Criminals pretend to be someone you trust to persuade you to send them money, or to get information that can later be leveraged for money, experts said.People may falsely claim to be a romantic interest, the government, a relative in distress, a well-known business or a technical support expert, the FTC said in a recent report.Fraudsters, often part of sophisticated organized crime networks, may contact potential victims via channels such as e-mail, phone call, text, mobile apps, social media or traditional snail mail.The internet has ‘really supercharged’ imposter scamsGovernment impersonators, for example, might suggest they work for the Social Security Administration, IRS, Medicare or even the FTC. Others may say they’re from a company such as Amazon or Apple and claim there’s something wrong with your account, or from your utility company threatening to turn off service. Others may say they’re a close friend or family member and need money for an emergency.More from Personal Finance:FBI: ‘Financial sextortion’ of teens is ‘rapidly escalating threat’How this 77-year-old widow lost $661,000 in a common tech scamWhy this popular service is like ‘payday lending on steroids’Nascent and improving technology, such as artificial intelligence and voice cloning, has made these frauds more convincing, experts said.”These scams have been around forever, really, but the internet has really supercharged them,” said John Breyault, vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Consumers League. “The scammers seem to be getting better at what they’re doing.”Additionally, imposter scams have a low barrier to entry for criminals, another likely reason they’ve proliferated, said Hardeep Rai, product director at Feedzai, a fraud detection service used by financial institutions.”You get [hold of] a bunch of phone numbers and call,” Rai said. “It’s an infinitely scalable fraud in that sense.”Older adults tend to lose more moneyOlder victims were less likely than younger ones to report losing money to all types of fraud, but their typical loss was higher. For example, victims age 80 and older had a median loss of $1,450; by comparison, the typical loss didn’t exceed $500 for those younger than 70.The FBI reported last year that a subset of imposter scam — a type of tech-support fraud known as a “phantom …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
