FTC: US fraud-related losses surpass $10B for the first time

More than $10 billion in fraud-related losses were reported by U.S. consumers for the first time in 2023, representing a 14% growth over 2022, even though the number of individuals who reported being targeted by fraud held steady at over 2.6 million, BleepingComputer reports. Most of the losses have been attributed to investment scams, which exceeded $4.6 billion, followed by imposter scams, which were the most prevalently reported fraud category, according to a report from the Federal Trade Commission. Other commonly reported fraud categories included online shopping scams, sweepstakes, lotteries, and job opportunity schemes. Moreover, the report also noted that losses from bank transfers and cryptocurrency surpassed losses from all other approaches combined. "Digital tools are making it easier than ever to target hard-working Americans, and we see the effects of that in the data we're releasing today," said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine. Such findings come as ransomware payments were noted by Chainalysis to have exceeded $1.1 billion last year, which is the highest on record.