Americans Lost $8.8 Billion to Scams in 2022

US citizens reported losing $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, an increase of more than 30 percent from the previous year, the Federal Trade Commission said.

Consumers reported losing more than $3.8 billion to investment scams last year, more than double the amount reported lost in 2021.

The second-highest reported losses were from imposter scams -  $2.6 billion reported, up from $2.4 billion in 2021.

2.4 million consumers reported fraudulent activity on their accounts last year, most commonly imposter scams, followed by online shopping scams, the agency said in a press release.

The top five fraud categories were prizes, sweepstakes, lotteries, investment scams, and fake business and job opportunities.

The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network received more than 5.1 million reports in 2022, including the above-mentioned fraud reports, as well as reports of identity theft and complaints related to other consumer issues. Over 1.1 million reports were solely about identity theft.

Earlier this month, the FTC released a similar report saying romance scammers received a hefty payout last year, with some 70,000 victims losing a combined $1.3 billion.

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