"Social Dominates as Victims Take $2.7bn Fraud Hit"

According to researchers at the FTC, fraud victims lost $2.7bn to scammers operating on social media between January 2021 and June 2023.  The FTC stated that the sum of money lost to fraud on sites like Instagram and Facebook dwarfed that lost via regular websites and apps ($2bn), phone calls ($1.9bn), and email ($900m).  Most common on social media were reports of online shopping scams (44%), particularly clothing and electronics that were purchased but never arrived.  Investment (20%) and romance fraud (6%) were also common during the period.  The researchers noted, however, that in terms of money lost, investment fraud (53%) dominated, followed by romance scams (14%) and online shopping fraud (8%).  In the first six months of 2023, in reports of money lost to fraud by people 20-29, social media was the contact method more than 38% of the time.  For people 18-19, that figure was 47%.  The numbers decrease with age, consistent with generational differences in social media use.  

Infosecurity reports: "Social Dominates as Victims Take $2.7bn Fraud Hit"