NORFOLK, Va. — Before our reports make it to air and our website, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.
We are connecting with people from the community, looking through documents, and doing research to verify someone's story.
Quite often, someone reaches out to the Problem Solvers, but they don't want to go on television — or on the record at all. In my work as a consumer reporter, I have noticed this most in people who say they have been scammed or taken advantage of.
Other than being camera shy, I wanted to know why people don't come forward — not just to the media, but to investigating agencies. So, I called up the Director of Fraud Victim Support with AARP.
Amy Nofziger says, “It's really hard to know this, right? Because we don't go out to random people and say, ‘Hey, were you a victim of fraud and didn't report it?’ And are they going to be honest with us at that time?"
Nofziger says there is a stigma surrounding the issue. She says what most people don't realize is that criminals can be manipulative and prey on people's emotions, which makes the situation much deeper than a financial loss.
AARP says the main reason people do not report issues is because they are ashamed and embarrassed, but they could also be afraid. They could be afraid that someone they don't know has their personal information or that someone they do know has their information and might retaliate if they go public.
“A lot of people say, ‘I can't believe it happened to me, I was in such shock, and frankly I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to report it and I didn't think it was going to make a difference, so I didn't report it,'” says Nofziger.
While people may be hesitant, federal, and local agencies say it is important especially because losses were up more than 30% last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC says 2.4 million fraud reports were filed last year, which helped spot trends, conduct investigations, and bring people to justice.
- Reported fraud losses are up. The Consumer Sentinel Network received 2.4 million fraud reports in 2022, down from 2.9 million in 2021. But the almost $8.8 billion in total reported losses in 2022 surpasses the $6.1 billion figure from 2021.
- Imposter scams top the Fraudulent Five. In terms of the number of fraud reports received, #1 on the list is Imposter Scams, followed by #2 Online Shopping, #3 Prizes, Sweepstakes, and Lotteries, #4 Investments, and #5 Business and Job Opportunities.
- Losses to business imposters have skyrocketed. People reported losing $2.6 billion to imposters in 2022, an increase from $2.4 billion the year before. A notable trend relates to the rise of business imposters – scammers who falsely claim affiliations with well-known companies. In 2020, reported losses to business imposters was $196 million. That figure rose to $453 million last year and soared to $660 million in 2022.
- Investment scams are on a troubling upswing. Doubling growth in just one year might sound like good news for business, but not if the business is investment scams. In 2022 consumers reported losing more money to that form of fraud – nearly $3.8 billion – than to any other category. That figure is more than twice the losses from investment scams that consumers reported in 2021.
- Scammers go social. Losses facilitated via social media platforms totaled $1.2 billion in 2022, although phone scams yielded the highest reported loss per person with a median of $1,400.
AARP also has the free Fraud Watch Network helpline with over 200 trained specialists to work one-on-one with you. The helpline, 877-908-3360, is free and available to anyone.
“With our 100,000 reports that we get every year from people, you know, we want to take these data points and give them to the people that can go out and catch these bad guys,” she says.
Data suggests that more young people are falling victim to fraud, but people over the age of 50 are often targeted Nofziger says because, “they have worked hard their whole lives and have a retirement, so we know that the scammers go where the money is.”
There is also a heat map to see other similar incidents near you, which is similar to the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker.
