WASHINGTON—Best Buy/Geek Squad, Amazon, and PayPal are the companies scammers most often impersonate, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission.
Two major banks, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, were ninth and tenth, respectively, on the list (see list).
A newly released data spotlight from the FTC shows that consumers in 2023 submitted about 52,000 reports about scammers impersonating Best Buy or its Geek Squad tech support brand, followed by about 34,000 reports about scammers impersonating Amazon. PayPal was the third-most impersonated company with about 10,000 reports from consumers, the FTC said.
“When it comes to the amount lost, though, consumers reported losing far more money to scammers impersonating Microsoft and Publishers Clearing House than any other companies,” the FTC said. “Consumers reported losing a total of $60 million to Microsoft impersonation scams and $49 million to Publishers Clearing House impersonation scams.”
New Rule
In releasing its findings, the FTC noted it recently finalized its new rule on government and business impersonation, which seeks to give the agency more tools to combat and deter scammers who impersonate government agencies and businesses. Specifically, the FTC said it will be able to file federal court cases seeking to get money back to injured consumers and civil penalties against rule violators.
Payments Findings
Additional findings in the Spotlight related to payments:
- Scammers requested a variety of payment methods, including cryptocurrency and bank transfers, which were the top methods used by investment scammers, according to the data spotlight.
- The FTC further reported the top payment apps and services people reported using to make payments were PayPal, CashApp and Zelle
- The most-reported gift cards were Apple and Target.
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