Online fraud scams are becoming more prevalent with each passing year as Americans lose billions of dollars, which in many cases, can’t be regained. A new FBI crime report (IC3) shows the increase in ransomware attacks and spam calls, texts, and emails continues to skyrocket, resulting in more than $10 billion lost in the last year alone.
Although people of all ages are targeted by scammers, it is the elderly who are affected the most, and the FBI’s internet crime report found people over 60 years old made up the largest group, with over $724 million in reported losses.
The report showed a five percent decrease in the number of complaints in 2022 compared to 2021, but the financial devastation was far greater, growing from $6.9 billion to more than $10.2 billion in one year.
We’ve compiled the top scams that impacted the majority of Americans last year, according to the FBI report.