WASHINGTON—Consumers reported losing nearly $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, an increase of more than 30% over the previous year, according to newly released Federal Trade Commission data.
Consumers reported losing more money to investment scams—more than $3.8 billion—than any other category in 2022. That amount more than doubles the amount reported lost in 2021. The second-highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with losses of $2.6 billion reported, up from $2.4 billion in 2021, the FTC said.
The FTC said it received fraud reports from 2.4 million consumers during 2022, with the most commonly reported being imposter scams, followed by online shopping scams. Rounding out the top five fraud categories were prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries; investment related reports, and business and job opportunities.
According to the FTC, its Consumer Sentinel Network is a database that receives reports directly from consumers, as well as from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Better Business Bureau, industry members, and non-profit organizations. Twenty-three states contribute data to Sentinel.
More Than 5 Million Reports
“Sentinel received more than 5.1 million reports in 2022, as well as identity theft reports and complaints related to other consumer issues, such as problems with credit bureaus and banks and lenders. In 2022, there were over 1.1 million reports of identity theft received through the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website,” the FTC stated.
The FTC said it uses the reports it receives through the Sentinel network as the starting point for many of its law enforcement investigations.
A full breakdown of reports received in 2022 is available on the FTC’s data analysis site at ftc.gov/exploredata.
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