FTC publishes TOP 2024 and report record losses

The Consumer Sentinel Network of the Federal Trade Commission is a database that reports reports directly from consumers and from federal, state and local law enforcement authorities, a better business office, the members of the industry and non-profit organizations. More than 20 countries contribute to the Sentinel data.

BBB is proud to contribute to the consumer -Sentinel network for a long time, since the information helps to detect, stop and listen to consumer fraud when analyzing the fraud trends by the FTC and the extensive approach.

Freshly presented data from the Commission show that consumers were cheated by more than $ 12.5 billion in 2024 – an amazing new record that corresponds to an increase of 25% compared to 2023 losses.

The number of fraud reports has not increased, but the percentage of the fraud reports, which came from people with financial losses, increased enormous – 38% of the people reported 27% in 2023.

Investment fraud led the list of fraud cases with the highest reported financial losses -5.7 billion US dollars in 2024. $ Million.

Cheat seven red flags of cryptocurrency investments:

-offers with little known cryptocurrencies

– Inquiries to share your cryptocurrency pocket with someone you do not fully trust

– Strategies that offer “guaranteed” returns

– an investment that requires little effort or time to pull

– someone who offers his secret strategy and discourages her research on your requirements

-To-good claims

– a stranger who suddenly wants to make friends with you

Five tips to avoid fraudsters from fraudsters:

– Check directly with the agency. If someone claims to come from a government agency, contact the agency with the help of your official website or telephone number to check whether you have tried to reach you. Never use the contact information provided by the caller or email.

– Knowledge how government agencies work. Legitimate agencies such as the IRS and the social security agency do not request immediate payment, threaten or request sensitive information by phone, e -mail or text.

– Pay attention to unusual payment methods. Payment inquiries about gift cards, cryptocurrency or peer-to-peer payment apps are a clear sign of fraud.

– Protect your personal data. Avoid sharing sensitive details such as social security numbers, bank account details or passwords unless you have started contact with a verified agency.

-Check the E -Mail extensions. The official government correspondence usually comes from “.gov” or “.mil” species. News from Gmail, Yahoo or similar domains that claim to be state are fraud.

If you have fell victim to fraud, you can report your experience with the FTC at Reportfaud.ftc.gov or on the phone number 877-FFTC-HELP (877-382-4357) and the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI at IC3.Gov.

We hope that you also share information on the BBB SCAM Tracker page at BBB.ORG/SCAMTRACKER to keep others careful about the types of fraud to our community.

Shredded day

A proactive step to protect itself from fraud with ID theft is to safely crush unnecessary documents and/or hard drives that contain personal data and bank information. You can do this free of charge on the next Shred day of BBB.

Our spring event will take place from April 5th to 12th in the parking lot of Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 2111 W. Shepherd Road in Chattanooga. (Exit 1a/Airport on Highway 153).

In addition to inserting paper documents and hard drives for destruction, electronics can also be brought to recycling and outdated or not required prescription medication can be removed for safe disposal.

Please limit the documents to three large garbage bags per person and limit the hard drives to four per person. You can find more information at bbb.org/chattanooga or call your BBB at 423-266-6144.

Many thanks to our event partners: Aarp, resource 1 Tier 3 data security, Hamilton County Coalition, River City Shredding, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Cumulus Media Chattanooga, Double D Piping, First Horizon Bank and Sunny 92.3.

Michele Mason is President of the Better Business Bureau in Chattanooga.