The official website of the Federal Trade Commission, protecting America’s consumers for over 100 years.

Dec 8, 2022 · Prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scams often impersonate a well-known business to trick people into sending money to claim nonexistent winnings. Reports point to these scams as especially costly to people 80 and over – about one out of every three dollars reported lost to fraud by this age group in 2021 was lost to a prize, sweepstakes, and ...

Nov 12, 2024 · Phishing Scams and How to Spot Them. Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source – an internet service provider, a bank, or a mortgage company, for example. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information.

And today I’m going to tell you how to report scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. But first, let me tell you why it’s so important to report frauds and scams. Every time you file a report with the Federal Trade Commission you are helping us build cases, stop scammers, and also alert others about the current trends.

Mar 10, 2025 · The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, nearly the same amount as 2023. The most commonly reported scam category was imposter scams. Losses to government imposter scams in particular increased $171 million from 2023 to a …

May 24, 2024 · Gift cards were the top reported payment method on several types of scams in 2023, including romance scams, tech support scams, government impersonation scams, and scams that impersonate people you know, like your boss or a grandchild. Reports show that scammers specify what gift card brand to buy, which most people named in their reports.

The most commonly reported scam category was imposter scams, which saw significant increases in reports of both business and government impersonators. Online shopping issues were the second most commonly reported in the fraud category, followed by prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries; investment-related reports; and business and job opportunity ...

Apr 1, 2024 · Scams that impersonate well-known businesses and government agencies are consistently among the top frauds reported to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network. [1] In 2023, data from the FTC alone show more than 330,000 reports of business impersonation scams and nearly 160,000 reports of government impersonation scams. [2]

Aug 5, 2024 · Debt relief service scams target consumers with significant credit card debt by falsely promising to negotiate with their creditors to settle or otherwise reduce consumers' repayment obligations. These operations often charge cash-strapped consumers a large up-front fee, but then fail to help them settle or lower their debts – if they provide ...

Mar 19, 2024 · The agency has issued guidance on how to spot and avoid these FTC impersonation scams and asks people to report them at ReportFraud.ftc.gov in English or ReporteFraude.ftc.gov in Spanish. Government and business impersonation scams have cost consumers billions of dollars in recent years, and both categories saw significant increases in …