The Top Ten Scams Of 2019
- by Ray Schultz , February 27, 2020
National Consumer Protection Week starts Sunday. And the National Consumers League has issued a report to commemorate the occasion.
According to the report, these were the leading consumer scams in 2019:
- Internet: Gen Merchandise
- Fake Check Scams
- Advance Fee Loans, Credit Arrangers
- Phishing/Spoofing
- Friendship & Sweetheart Swindles
- Prizes/Sweepstakes/Free Gifts
- Investment Related
- Computers: Equipment/Software
- Employ Agency/Job Counsel/Overseas Work
- Internet: Info/Adult Services
Last year, there were 5,647 complaints submitted to the National Consumer League’s Fraud.org, with the number of spoofing or phishing reports nearly tripling.
The latter was due to the increase in imposter scam calls from criminals pretending to be from the IRS, the FBI or USCIS. Indeed, some claimed to be from the National Consumer League.
“Scammers know all too well that impersonating a government agency and threatening consumers is one of the best ways to get victims to pay up, and they depend on authentic-looking emails or spoofing Caller ID to get victims to pay attention to their threats,” states John Breyault, vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud and author of the report.
Of complaints submitted in 2019, 53% involved monetary loss, and the median figure was $749.
