The FTC has issued a new warning to the world about the growing rise in scam incidents where threat actors are using alternative means to get their desired benefits at the cost of others.
Scammers are embarking on tricking victims via emails and text messages as compared to phone calls. The news comes from the latest data arising from the FTC today.
The regulatory watchdog mentioned its concerns after rolling out more stats on this front including how impersonation scams could well deceive the user while appearing as a fraudster who pretends to arise from a famous business or perhaps belongs to a government entity.
Moreover, agencies are speaking about how criminals continue to make use of alternative tactics. And when stats were compared between the years 2020 and 2023, there is a huge report featuring scams that begin with a phone. And while those might be falling in number, others featuring texts and emails continue to rise as mentioned by the commission in a new report.
In the year 2020, we saw close to 67% of impersonation scams beginning with phone calls depending on what sort of complaints arose with the FTC. However, it must be remembered that those are falling to 32%.
Impersonation scams featuring 14% cause the total to rise to 40%. As mentioned in a new report, the FTC added that it’s about time the public was warned more about how this threat can be troublesome.
The FTC added that they are rolling out a new report on this front to the general public regarding the threat. In the past, we saw it receiving close to 330,000 reports about business impersonation scams, and close to 160k of those had to do with incidents relating to the government.
We’ve seen even more complaints related to a significant amount of losses that impacted people as they had to do with mega losses carried out via crypto or bank transfers.
More reports are now speaking about a greater line arising amongst business and government scams where the scammers could impersonate several organizations in a single attempt. For instance, you might find one fake Amazon employee transferring another to a fake bank another fake FBI, or a leading FTC employee.
The report has gone on to list several different means through which impersonation scams keep on targeting victims. This entails rolling out fake security alerts so that users who are suspicious about an account can benefit. When a consumer responds to such acts, they would be informed to transfer such funds for their own peace of mind. But such transfers arise in a discreet manner that goes unnoticed for so long and cannot be traced for days.
In the same manner, scammers would be resorting to rolling out messages regarding bogus renewals that entail subscription services or fake problems having to do with package deliveries. Moreover, the FTC mentioned how such texts would feature copy the look of genuine communications arising from famous firms or government entities.
Throughout the matter, they would continue to play with people’s emotions and make themselves appear super genuine as if they were facing a worrisome situation.
In regards to this, FTC has warned users to be more careful when opening such messages or clicking on things where scammers wish to rush them. They want you to take the time out to check what’s being offered and only speak to those that you can trust because if a person is forcing you to act at a fast pace, they must be involved in some scam.
Read next: Lethal AI Tech Export: Israeli Startups' Role in Gaza Conflict Raises Precision Concerns
Scammers are embarking on tricking victims via emails and text messages as compared to phone calls. The news comes from the latest data arising from the FTC today.
The regulatory watchdog mentioned its concerns after rolling out more stats on this front including how impersonation scams could well deceive the user while appearing as a fraudster who pretends to arise from a famous business or perhaps belongs to a government entity.
Moreover, agencies are speaking about how criminals continue to make use of alternative tactics. And when stats were compared between the years 2020 and 2023, there is a huge report featuring scams that begin with a phone. And while those might be falling in number, others featuring texts and emails continue to rise as mentioned by the commission in a new report.
In the year 2020, we saw close to 67% of impersonation scams beginning with phone calls depending on what sort of complaints arose with the FTC. However, it must be remembered that those are falling to 32%.
Impersonation scams featuring 14% cause the total to rise to 40%. As mentioned in a new report, the FTC added that it’s about time the public was warned more about how this threat can be troublesome.
The FTC added that they are rolling out a new report on this front to the general public regarding the threat. In the past, we saw it receiving close to 330,000 reports about business impersonation scams, and close to 160k of those had to do with incidents relating to the government.
We’ve seen even more complaints related to a significant amount of losses that impacted people as they had to do with mega losses carried out via crypto or bank transfers.
More reports are now speaking about a greater line arising amongst business and government scams where the scammers could impersonate several organizations in a single attempt. For instance, you might find one fake Amazon employee transferring another to a fake bank another fake FBI, or a leading FTC employee.
The report has gone on to list several different means through which impersonation scams keep on targeting victims. This entails rolling out fake security alerts so that users who are suspicious about an account can benefit. When a consumer responds to such acts, they would be informed to transfer such funds for their own peace of mind. But such transfers arise in a discreet manner that goes unnoticed for so long and cannot be traced for days.
In the same manner, scammers would be resorting to rolling out messages regarding bogus renewals that entail subscription services or fake problems having to do with package deliveries. Moreover, the FTC mentioned how such texts would feature copy the look of genuine communications arising from famous firms or government entities.
Throughout the matter, they would continue to play with people’s emotions and make themselves appear super genuine as if they were facing a worrisome situation.
In regards to this, FTC has warned users to be more careful when opening such messages or clicking on things where scammers wish to rush them. They want you to take the time out to check what’s being offered and only speak to those that you can trust because if a person is forcing you to act at a fast pace, they must be involved in some scam.
Read next: Lethal AI Tech Export: Israeli Startups' Role in Gaza Conflict Raises Precision Concerns
