One victim sent 201,000 to a Nigerian suspect before realizing the effort was all a fraud. Then, the scammers come up with excuses as to why they might need your money or even other things of value, such as gift cards or cell phones.”Īccording to the FBI’s March report, California saw the largest number of victims of any state, with 69,541 people reporting losses due to online scams. Florida placed second, with 53,793 victims reporting losses, and Texas came in third with 38,640 victims.Ĭalifornia also saw the highest total amount lost out of any state, at over $621 million, followed by New York at nearly $416 million and Texas at $313 million. Catfish is a word that didn’t even exist a decade ago, but is a term used to describe a person who creates a fake social media profile, with someone else’s pictures, to lure unsuspecting victims. prosecutors recently charged 10 people from Nigeria with a scheme in which they would ask Americans first for smaller items, like gift cards, then increase the size of their requests as the relationship evolved over email and Google Hangouts. “These victims have no idea that they are talking to a scammer and think that they are talking to the person in the photos. They use a pre-made script to talk to their victims called the scammer’s playbook,” the site said in its report. “Scammers create a variety of tricks to scam people out of their hard-earned money. They create fake profiles and go onto social media platforms, dating sites, and online gaming apps to start conversations with their victims.
Social Catfish noted in its report released Monday that some individuals may also be too ashamed to file a report about being scammed online.Ĭiting a survey sent to 722 users and members of a Facebook group who reported being scammed, the site said nearly three-quarters of respondents were “too ashamed to file a report.” You may see the person on the other end of the video chat engaged in sexually suggestive intimate images or video. The conversation eventually leads to sexually suggestive themes. Last year’s figure was included in a 2020 internet crime report released by the FBI in March. Usually, they will ask to move the conversation over to a texting app or platform such as Hangouts, WhatsApp, or Skype.
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Identity verification website Social Catfish noted in its report that the $4.2 billion reported lost due to online scams in 2020 compares to $7.6 billion collectively lost between 20. Scammers stole at least $4.2 billion from individuals in 2020, more than half of the amount stolen over the previous three years, according to a new report analyzing federal data.
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