Americans lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, with investment scams accounting for nearly half of the losses, Federal Trade Commission data shows.
Overall losses in 2023 were 14% higher than the previous year, while investment scam losses - at more than $4.6 billion - were up 21%.
The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams - nearly $2.7 billion. In 2023, consumers reported losing more money to bank transfers and cryptocurrency than all other methods combined.
The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million Americans in 2023, nearly the same amount as 2022.
The most commonly reported scam category was imposter scams; followed by online shopping issues; prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries; investment-related reports; and business and job opportunity scams.
Email was the most commonly used contact method, followed by phone calls and texts.