In 2023, Americans Lost a Shocking $10 Billion to Online Scams - Here's What To Look Out For

With all the online campaigns that have been run to help protect and inform netizens of all the possible ways they could get scammed online, it apparently still holds nothing against how sneaky, innovative, and brazen cyber criminals have become. In 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission reported that there were around 2.6 million fraud reports made, totalling to a shocking $10 billion lost, in comparison to 2022's numbers with 2.5 million fraud reports and $9 billion lost.

To put things in perspective, that's one in every four Americans losing money to scams with a median loss of $500 per person. The scary thing is that it is no longer the young or old that the criminals are preying on, even tech- or financially-savvy people fall prey to scams, too!

Case in point, in 2023, a financial columnist for the New York Times fell prey to an elaborate scam that ended up with her handing over $50,000 cash to a complete stranger in a shoe box!

In a bid to keep you informed and vigilant, here are the top three 2024 online scams that you should be wary of - no matter how convincing the other party is:

1. Charitable Donation Scams

Remember that email from the Prince of Nigeria who asked for money so that you could help bail him or his constituents out of trouble? Yeah, we do too and luckily not too many people have fallen for that lately. But, scammers aren't done exploiting people's empathy if that means they can get their hands on a large sum of money.

According to ExpressVPN, this scam entails phishing wherein you deal with a website or an email that looks like it is from a legitimate entity. It can look like it's from your bank, a non-profit, a store you online shop from, and more. What you don't notice is that while the site looks like the real thing, there are a few letters or special characters in the site's URL which can raise a red flag.

Once the scammer plays with your emotions and asks you to make a charitable donation or to update your private information, it will make a copy of all your sensitive information including your passwords, credit card numbers, or personal details. These scams often include fraudulent emails, text messages, or phone calls.

2. Romance Scams

With more people going digital for almost every aspect of their life, from online shopping, watching movies, and more - it's no surprise that plenty have turned to cyberspace in a bid to find love. But while some may find their "happily ever after", others find drained bank accounts. In fact, in 2023, the FTC revealed that around 64,003 romance scams were reported, totalling to a loss of $1.14 billion. That means that an individual suffered an average loss of $2,000.

According to online experts, scammers usually try to isolate their victims, build rapport, and once they gain the victim's trust, they create an urgent and sad situation wherein they need financial help which can only be received online as it'd be impossible for them to meet in real life. Be wary of this and refrain from wiring money, do a reverse image search of photos that they send you of themselves and talk to family and friends that you trust before you do anything rash.

3. Deepfakes and the use of generative AI

The pros and cons of AI have long been debated over since its conception yet it has gained a strong following and developed a myriad of uses across a myriad of sectors from healthcare to banking.

It's so sophisticated and seemingly real that a finance worker in Hong Kong was so convinced that he was talking to his company's CFO (when it was actually an AI-generated video) during a work call, that he readily handed over $25 million via wire transfer. In an article from ExpressVPN, scammers make use of intricate and sophisticated deepfake videos, voice cloning, and text generation.

If you find yourself in a similar questionable situation, (1) verify your contact's identity via an alternate communication channel, report suspicious activity and block them, and pay attention to a possible deepfake by taking care of unusual mannerisms, visual, and audio clues.

Scammers work hard, but you work harder. Ensure that you keep up to date with the latest (unfortunate) trends when it comes to cyber crimes and keep you and your family safe from ever falling prey to these elaborate online scams.

Be wary of unsolicited offers, unfamiliar numbers calling you, never click on links or attachments from seemingly reputable sources and most importantly, don't share personal information with anyone you don't know and trust.