The top scams of 2022

 By Andrew Rayo

What are scammers up to these days? Every day, people just like you tell the FTC what they’ve spotted, and maybe even lost money to. Then, every year, the FTC rolls up all those millions of reports about fraud, scams, and bad business practices to tell the story: what ARE scammers up to these days?

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Here are some highlights from 2022:

• Investment scams were huge, with reported losses of $3.8 billion. That’s more than people lost to any other scam, and more than double the loss reported in 2021.
•  Impersonator scams were still the most-reported scam, with reported losses of $2.6 billion. The difference this year? Higher losses to business imposters: 2022 losses were $660 million, compared to $453 million in 2021
• If people paid a scammer, the biggest reported losses were through bank transfers ($1.5 billion reported lost to scams) and cryptocurrency ($1.4 billion reported lost).
• When the scam started on social media, people reported losing the most money overall to scammers ($1.2 billion). But when the scammer called, the per-person loss was the highest ($1,400 median loss).
•  Younger adults (ages 20-29) reported losing money more often than older adults (ages 70-79). But when older adults did lose money, they lost more than anyone else.