Delawareans lost nearly $23M in scams in 2023. Here's how to avoid getting duped in 2024
Delawareans lost a total of $22,312,486 to scams last year, according to a report from the Federal Trade Commission.
In 2023, the FTC received 6,888 fraud reports from consumers in Delaware, with a median loss of $490, the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network reported.
The FTC received 18,256 reports from Delawareans in 2023 about various scams. The top scam categories were:
Credit bureaus, information furnishers and report users.
Identity theft.
Imposter scams.
Online shopping.
Negative reviews.
Banks and lenders.
Nationwide, consumers lost more than $10 billion in fraud in 2023, an increase from the $8.8 million lost in 2022, according to the FTC.
Consumers lost the most money to investment scams, at more than $4.6 billion in losses, than any other scam in 2023. The second highest reported losses came from imposter scams, with $2.7 billion in losses reported.
In 2023, the FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers. The most commonly reported scam was imposter scams, followed by online shopping scams; prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries; investment-related reports; and business and job opportunities.
The payment methods with the most fraud reports nationwide were:
Credit cards.
Debit cards.
Payment apps or services.
Bank transfers or payments.
Cryptocurrency.
Gift cards or reload cards.
Wire transfers.
Cash.
Checks.
Money orders.
The top subcategories for fraud payment were:
Online shopping.
Business imposters.
Miscellaneous investments.
Government imposters.
Romance scams.
Job scams and employment agencies.
Tech support scams.
Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries.
Family and friend imposters.
Advance-fee credit.
Sentinel received 5.4 million reports overall in 2023, with more than 1 million being identity theft reports received through the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website. Following identity theft in number of reports is imposter scams and credit bureaus, info furnishers and report users.
About 1 in 5 people lost money to imposter scams throughout the year, with $500 as the median loss and a total of $10 billion lost to fraud in 2023. Of the money lost, the age 20 to 29 demographic lost money more often than the 70 to 79 age group, but the younger group only saw a median loss of $480 while the older group saw a median loss of $803.
In Delaware, the state ranked No. 7 for imposter scams nationwide, with 529 total reports, according to the FTC.
There were 76 reports of identity theft per 100,000 Delawareans. The top form of identity theft in the state was credit card theft, followed by:
Other identity theft.
Loan or lease fraud.
Phone or utilities fraud.
Government documents or benefits fraud.
Employment or tax-related fraud.
When it comes to those pesky robocalls attempting to dupe people into revealing sensitive information, Delaware led the nation in the most complaints about Do Not Call violations. The top complaints in the state were for calls about imposters; medical and prescription needs; reducing debt; energy, solar and utilities; and warranty and protection plans.
Nationwide, 228,282 government imposter scams were reported. The top government imposter scams include someone pretending to be the Social Security Administration, the United States Department of Health and Human Services/Medicare, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Postal Service and the Federal Trade Commission.
Government employee imposter scams most often are executed over the phone, though they can be transacted by email, text, U.S. mail or social media, according to the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General.
To avoid these scams, the FTC offers the following reminders:
Government agencies do not call people out of the blue with threats or promises of money.
Do not trust caller ID.
Check with the real agency if you have concerns about correspondence.
Never pay with a gift card or wire transfer.
Report government imposter scams at reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/.
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Scam warnings include:
Asking for payment in gift cards or cryptocurrency
Unknown phone number or email address
Dating someone online without ever meeting or seeing their face
Claims that you won a lottery or contest you didn't enter
Awards of "free" vacations
Unsolicited sales calls
High pressure to make immediate decisions
Threats of arrest, harm or canceled benefits
To avoid fraud, follow these tips:
If you don't know who's calling you or are suspicious, don't answer the phone. If they really need you, they'll leave a voicemail.
If it seems like a friend or relative is asking for money online, call them to verify that it's really them.
If someone uses malware on your computer, immediately shut it down and take it to a specialist.
Don't enter information online or give it over the phone without doing research first.
Don't trust offers that seem too good to be true.
Be skeptical and trust your instincts.
To report a suspected scam to the Fraud and Consumer Protection Division, call 302-577-8600, email consumer.protection@delaware.gov or fill out the Department of Justice's online complaint form.
Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delawareans lost more than $22M to scams in 2023. How to avoid scams
