GREENSBORO, N.C. — AARPNC’s post on Twitter says that 25% of successful scams originated on social media. The stat is from the Federal Trade Commission.
To add to that stat, the number of scam victims went from 46,000 people in 2020 to 95,000 in 2021. When you look at the money lost, the numbers are even more jaw-dropping, from $258 million in 2020 to $770 million in 2021.
Now, you may think because AARP posted this, all the victims are over the age of 50. Nope.
The FTC stats confirm reports of scams were up among all age groups, but consumers 18 years to 39 years were more than twice as likely as those ages 40 and older to report losing money to social media-induced scams.
An AARP volunteer talks about how to spot a scam and gives three points:
Don’t accept requests from people you don't know
Celebrities that want to connect with you, are fake
Anyone offering investment opportunities is a scam
The whole idea is, that if you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.
- More than 1 in 4 consumers who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media with an ad, post, or message.
- Measured in dollars lost, about 25 percent of the money stolen in scams was obtained in scams that began on social media.
- More than half of consumers who reported losses to investment scams in 2021 said the fraud started on social media.
As for the top three scams last year:
- Investment scams. There was a “massive surge” in bogus deals for cryptocurrency in 2021.
- Romance scams.
- Online shopping scams in which consumers ordered a product that was marketed on a social media site, but it never showed up.