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FTC Data Security Social Media Scammer Report Overview:
- Who: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its latest Data Spotlight and revealed that many scammers find their victims on social media.
- Why: In 2021, more than 95,000 people reported about $770 million in losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms, the FTC says.
- Where: The Data Spotlight was released in the United States.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning social media users to be careful online after its latest report revealed that the number of consumers being scammed by people they’ve encountered on social media is booming.
According to the latest FTC Data Spotlight released Jan. 27, the commission has noticed the “disturbing trend” among consumers who report scams that a “skyrocketing percentage of them” crossed paths with the perpetrator on social media.
The FTC said that in 2021, more than 95,000 people reported about $770 million in losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms.
“Those losses accounted for about 25% of all reported fraud losses that year,” the FTC said.
It was an 18-fold increase from the number of people scammed through social media in 2017, the commission said.
People Ages 18-39 More Than Twice As Likely As Older Adults To Report Losing Money To Scams
The new report also had some surprises for consumers who might typically think it is only older people who get scammed on social media.
Instead, reports of people being ripped off by online perpetrators are up for every age group.
“But, in 2021, people between 18 to 39 were more than twice as likely as older adults to report losing money to scams that started on social media,” the report found.
It said people were often being tricked by deceptive ads. Of the reports the commission received about fraud losses that started with a social media contact, 45% came from people who said they were ripped off when buying something marketed on social media.
About 70% of those reports involved merchandise that consumers ordered but never received.
“Some people reported ads on social media that impersonated the look of established online retailers,” the commission said.
Other scams accounting for big losses include investment scams with cryptocurrency involved in about 64% of the investment scams where the payment method was specified.
Meanwhile, the FTC is sending out checks in several refunds to customers impacted by fraud. For the latest FTC refunds, click here.
Have you been contacted by someone trying to scam you on social media? Let us know your experience in the comments!
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14 thoughts onFTC Warns ‘Skyrocketing’ Number of Scammers Find Victims of All Ages on Social Media
please add me
Oh and I was hacked by a Facebook group that consisted of 4 people:
One from California
One from Singapore
One from Argentina
And one from Antartica
Facebook found that out for me. And how I knew that was one day I was chatting with this person on Twitter and he was from California supposedly and he had a picture of a dog on his profile right well that picture was a picture of my DOG!!! And when I asked him what kind of dog that was he acted like he had to go that a friend of his just showed up and he would get back with me. I said ok but wait what kind of dog is that it’s beautiful I’ve never seen one like that before? He never would answer me at all. Then a couple days later is when I had the problems. So people be careful who you talk to!! I don’t use Twitter, or any other chat app out there and I don’t even conversation with any other people except about 15 on Facebook and they live right around me . I don’t play games or anything on the internet at all anymore and I don’t answer the phone if I don’t know the number I have my phone set up that way to block it so if don’t leave a message then it’s not important.
Add me was scammed first time through Facebook social media by someone pretending to be someone else $600 then again by a Amazon text message and my husband does have a Amazon acct. but it wasn’t his account and when I was or thought I was taking care of it someone was pretending to be my bank’s fraud department personal person even the now I won’t talk to anyone on the phone at my bank due to the fact that every time I have (we’ll I never get too) it’s not a legitimate person. I was taken for over $4200.00 and they transferred it into Moon Pay Bitcoin crap and it was done after I told the bank not to let anything come out of my account except 2 payments to a credit card for the amounts of $50 each and shut down that card immediately and send me a new one they still let it happen and now the don’t want to give me my money back. They say it’s my fault!!!
Add me I have been victimized 3 times on Facebook