A report published by the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday revealed that consumers across the U.S. had lost an estimated $5.8 billion to fraud and scams last year. The figure is more than 70% higher than the $3.4 billion estimated to have been lost in 2020.
The report was based on more than 2.8 million fraud reports filed by consumers over the entire year, the highest number ever recorded since 2001. Based on its estimates, the FTC said that 25% of those that filed reports had resulted in significant financial losses, with an average of $500 lost per person that filed a complaint.
The FTC noted in its report that the true figure of the losses incurred by Americans could be much higher given that some incidents were likely unreported or went unnoticed.
The figure estimated by the FTC did not include losses incurred due to identity theft and other categories. The FTC report estimated that about 1.4 million Americans were victims of identity theft last year, while 1.5 million others were victims of "other" types of fraud such as false status of debt and credit reporting failures for disputed charges.
The FTC said fraud and scams increased dramatically throughout the pandemic as criminals took advantage of the confusion and fear. Common fraudulent activities included the selling of fake products and the stealing of personal data for claiming unemployment benefits or other incentives.
Scams involving the use of stolen data, or so-called imposter scams, were the most common - accounting for about a third of the complaints filed with the FTC. Victims of such scams typically lost an average of around $1,000 per person.
Imposter scams involve criminals pretending to be someone else or using someone else's credentials to steal money or sensitive information. In some cases, criminals pretend to be someone looking for love online. In other cases, criminals pretended to be government officials, a loved one in distress, or a technical support representative to fleece people out of their money.
On a per-person basis, the most costly type of scam was investment fraud. A victim of investment scams typically lost an average of $3,000 per person last year. Right after investment scams, business and job-opportunity scams ranked second, with victims losing an average of $2,000 per person.
In terms of the demography of the victims, younger Americans seemed to have been targeted the most by fraudsters last year. However, there were still a substantial number of victims who were over 70 years of age. People aged above 80 had lost nearly triple the amount of money compared to those in their 20s.
