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Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scammers stole record-breaking $12.5B from Americans in 2024, FTC says
Well-versed online crooks, con artists and fraudsters snagged $12.5 billion from unwitting consumers in 2024, setting yet another record, according to the latest data released Monday by the Federal Trade Commission. The total dollars lost was 25% higher than reported losses in 2023 when the old record was set at more than $10 billion lost to scammers. It's not that consumers are reporting more scams, according to the FTC. Fraud reports remained stable. Instead, consumers are reporting losing more money. In 2024, some 38% of consumers reported losing money to fraud and scams. That's up from 27% in 2023, according to the latest Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Nearly half of the dollars lost — some $5.7 billion — involved money that consumers lost to investment scams, the single largest scam last year. That is a 24% jump from 2023. The median loss involving investment scams was more than $9,000. Consumers reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined. People reported losing $2 billion via bank transfer or payment and $1.4 billion was lost via cryptocurrency. Consumers made 2.6 million fraud reports nationwide in 2024 to various agencies, roughly the same number as 2023, according to the latest Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. The Consumer Sentinel Network is managed by the FTC but compiles consumer complaints from a variety of sources, including the AARP Fraud Watch Network, United Parcel Service, the Better Business Bureau, the Michigan Attorney General and other AGs across the country, Publishers Clearing House, the Microsoft Corp. Cyber Crime Center, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. More than 20 states contribute data to Sentinel. Unfortunately, consumers are being hit at every turn by one scam or another. Scammers reach out through emails, phone calls and texts. Michigan consumers reported losses totaling $204 million to all types of fraud in 2024. That's up from $151.7 million in 2023. The median loss was $305 in 2024. Younger consumers are kidding themselves if they think that only seniors lose money to these outlandish schemes. While seniors tend to lose the most money, younger consumers are falling victim to scams, too. The FTC's data book this year included a new dashboard showing more detail on fraud reports received for each state broken down by age. Not every report received by consumer watchdogs includes an age for the person filing the report but many reports disclose that information. The $204 million overall figure for Michigan's reported fraud includes money lost by many consumers who did not report their age. Looking closely at the information by age category for Michigan, though, we can see that nearly $45.9 million was reported lost to scams and fraud by Michigan consumers ages 60 and older. Nearly $40.7 million was reported lost to scams and fraud by Michigan consumers ages 59 and younger. In Michigan, for example, the data indicated that 4,339 reports about fraud and scams were made last year by consumers in the 30- to 39-year-old age bracket. Total losses reported by that group of Michigan consumers was about $8.6 million. The median loss was $309. Among Michigan consumers ages 80 and older nearly $6.1 million was reported lost to scams. But the median loss was the highest of any age group at $2,228 for those 80 and older. Consumer watchdogs received 1,310 reports about scams from Michigan consumers ages 80 and older. The biggest total dollars lost and the most reports of fraud — 5,510 — involved Michigan consumers in the 60- to 69-year-old age group. The total reported losses in that age group was a bit more than $24 million. The median loss was $498 in 2024. The top five scams reported by Michigan consumers involved situations where crooks impersonated a well-known business; offered bogus deals to online shoppers; pretended to be someone from an official government agency; made phony promises involving fake sweepstakes, prizes and lotteries, and pitched scams involving fake jobs and employment agencies. "Scammers' tactics are constantly evolving,' warned Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. Regularly, we're being warned to think twice before trusting the person who reached out to us. Nationwide, the second highest reported dollar losses involved some type of imposter scam, with $2.95 billion reported lost across the country. Scammers are impersonating local law enforcement by calling or emailing consumers about jury duty. They're demanding that consumers pay up because the consumer somehow missed showing up for jury duty. The crooks are either out to get your money on a gift card or via cryptocurrency. Or they want to get your Social Security number or other personal information. No government agency is going to call you out of the blue and demand you pay any fine. And they're not asking that you send crypto or buy gift cards. When it comes to government imposter scams, according to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network, crooks are most likely to ask you to pay money by putting cash on a gift card and reading back numbers to them. Be careful when you pick up the phone. People lost more money per person — a median loss of $1,500 — when they interacted with scammers on the phone, according to the FTC. You're most likely to be contacted by phone when crooks impersonate federal, state and local government agencies. Crooks frequently impersonate the Social Security Administration, Medicare, the US Postal Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Trade Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. The median reported loss to an IRS impersonation scam was $319, according to FTC data. Some $9.14 million was lost to IRS impersonation scams in 2024. The median loss to a Social Security impersonation scam was $1,200 last year. Some $130.76 million was lost to scammers impersonating Social Security employees in 2024, according to the latest FTC data. The median loss was $3,040 to impersonation scams when crooks pretended to be from a local police department, sheriff's office or the FBI. Some $18.8 million was lost to those scams. More: Just lost your job? Watch out for the con artists who target people who are out of work More: IRS identifies most dangerous tax scams that can delay your refund. Here are 5 to avoid More: Cash, bitcoin, gold scams in metro Detroit send couriers, directions to ATMs Scammers know that people who are searching for work can be tricked into responding to a text about a promising paycheck. The latest data showed that consumers nationwide made 104,926 reports in 2024 involving a subcategory called "job scams and employment agencies." In all, $501 million was reported lost to job-related scams. The median amount lost by consumers was $2,400 in 2024 to such scams. That's up substantially from the previous year when 68,469 total reports were made by consumers about job scams and employment agencies. In 2023, consumers reported losing $238 million to such scams, with the median loss hitting $2,004 for individuals. Consumers can report scams to the Michigan Attorney General's consumer protection division. The address to mail a complaint is: Consumer Protection Team; P.O. Box 30213; Lansing, MI 48909. The toll free number is 877-765-8388. New consumer complaints can also be made online. See for information. Consumers can make complaints at where they also will receive information about some steps on how to possibly try to recover their money. These reports are a vital part of the agency's law enforcement mission and also help the FTC to warn consumers about fraud trends in the data. The FTC uses the reports it receives through the Sentinel network as the starting point for many law enforcement investigations. Reports are shared with federal, state and local law enforcement. Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@ Follow her on X @tompor. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Consumers lose even more money to scams, as investment scams spike
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nevada consumers lost more than $138M to fraud in 2024, FTC says
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada consumers reported losing more than $138 million to fraud in 2024, a report from the Federal Trade Commission said. The FTC said in a release that it received 24,331 fraud reports from consumers in Nevada in 2024, which amounted to losses that totalled $138,538,256, with a median loss of $519. The information comes from the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network, which analyzes reports from consumers, law enforcement at all levels, the Better Business Bureau, industry members, and non-profit organizations. Across all types of reports, not just fraud, the FTC received a total of 73,271 reports from Nevada consumers. 'Reports from around the country about consumer protection issues—including identity theft, fraud, and other categories—are a key resource for FTC and other law enforcement agencies' investigations that stop illegal activities and, when possible, provide refunds to consumers,' the release stated. The top category of reports from Nevada consumers was credit bureaus and information furnished, followed by identity theft, imposter scams, banks and lenders, and debt collection. Nationally, 2.6 million consumers reported losing $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, which is a 25 percent increase from 2023 data. Reports show consumers lost more money to investment scams, about $5.7 billion, than any other category in 2024. The second highest category was imposter scams, with reported losses of $2.95 billion. The full data set from the FTC for 2024 can be found at this link. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Too Good to Be True: US Fraud Losses Hit $12.5 Billion in 2024, FTC Says
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. Americans are still falling for romance and crypto scams. The Federal Trade Commission today reported a 25% year-over-year increase in fraud losses in 2024. The amount of money lost to scams reached $12.5 billion last year, the agency says, up from $10 billion the previous year. "One in three people who reported fraud said they lost money (up from one in four" in 2023, the FTC added in a blog post. The number of fraud reports the FTC received from consumers, at 2.6 million, didn't increase from the previous year. Instead, scammers got more successful in stealing people's money. "The percentage of people who reported losing money to a fraud or scam increased by double digits," the FTC said today. "In 2023, 27% of people who reported a fraud said they lost money, while in 2024, that figure jumped to 38%." A large chunk of the losses, at $5.7 billion, occurred through investment scams, which often trick people into buying fake cryptocurrency or precious metals or investing in a real estate project. The scams, also known by the derogatory name 'pig butchering,' can be particularly effective because scammers spend weeks or months building relationships with prospective targets through social media or dating apps before asking them to invest in the fraudulent scheme. 'A majority (79%) of people who reported an investment-related scam lost money, with a median loss of over $9,000,' the FTC noted. Another successful scheme is 'imposter scams,' which made up $2.95 billion of the fraud losses in 2024. Imposter scams, which can involve impersonating government agencies and companies, are also ranked as the most reported scams. The FTC adds: 'For the second consecutive year, email was the most common way that consumers reported being contacted by scammers. Phone calls were the second most commonly reported contact method for fraud in 2024, followed by text messages.' But for users who lost money to the fraud, the scams first started online, whether it be through social media, a website, or online ads. 'People lost over $3 billion to scams that started online, compared to approximately $1.9 billion lost to more 'traditional' contact methods like calls, texts, or emails,' the agency added. The losses were calculated using data from the FTC's 'Consumer Sentinel Network,' which takes reports from and other state and local agencies. The commission didn't say why the fraud losses are mounting, except to note that the 'scammers' tactics are constantly evolving.' But other investigators, including the FBI, say many of these scams come from organized Chinese crime groups working in Asia. The scale of the activities has grown to the point that Chinese syndicates are building large compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar full of workers dedicated to perpetuating online scams, according to Erin West, a former California deputy district attorney who's been urging governments and companies to crack down. 'They will be working 17 hours a day to scam Americans (and others worldwide) and to steal all of their money,' she told a congressional committee in September. 'In Cambodia, towers filled with human trafficked victims are forced to conduct this dirty business, shielded from disruption by the rampant corruption that rises to the top of government.'
