Scammers adapt to the latest issues even in this time of crisis. The Bureau of Consumer Protection has compiled the latest data on COVID-19 related scams. Here are the highlights:
- From January 1 until today, the FTC has gotten 18,235 reports related to COVID-19, and people reported losing $13.44 million dollars to fraud.
- The top complaint categories relate to travel and vacations, online shopping, bogus text messages, and all kinds of imposters.
- While reports of robocalls are way down overall, we’re now hearing about callers invoking the COVID-19 pandemic to pretend to be from the government, or making illegal medical or health care pitches, among other topics.
- The big states have, not unexpectedly, the biggest number of reports. You can check out how many people are reporting what in your state.
To learn more, check out the latest FTC Consumer Alert here.