On this April Fool’s Day and every day watch out for fraud! Last year, over 3 million reports of fraud were reported to the Federal Trade Commission.  Here are some of their statistics:

More than 1.4 million fraud reports, and people said they lost money in 25% of those reports. People reported losing $1.48 billion to fraud last year – an increase of 38% over 2017.

The top reports in 2018 were: imposter scams, debt collection, and identity theft.Younger people reported losing money to fraud more often than older people.

Last year, of those people who reported fraud and their age, 43% of people in their 20s reported a loss, while only 15% of people in their 70s did.

When people in their 70s did lose money, the amount tended to be higher: their median loss was $751, compared to $400 for people in their 20s.

Scammers like to get money by wire transfer – for a total of $423 million last year.

That was the most of any payment method reported, but there was also a surge of payments with gift and reload cards – a 95% increase in dollars paid to scammers last year.

Tax-related identity theft was down last year (by 38%), but credit card fraud on new accounts was up 24%. In fact, misusing someone’s information to open a new credit card account was reported more often than other forms of identity theft in 2018.

The top 3 states for fraud and other reports (per 100K population) are Florida, Georgia and Nevada. The top 3 states for identity theft reports (also per 100K) are Georgia, Nevada and California.

Keep reporting to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint. They use these reports to investigate and prosecute cases – and so do thousands of their law enforcement partners. If you feel that you have been the victim of a fraud and need help or need assistance with your budgeting or finances WE CAN HELP! Call Center For Siouxland at 712-252-1861 ext. 47.