How much did fraud cost Pennsylvanians in 2023? New report breaks down the data
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pennsylvania residents lost more than $158 million to scams in the first nine months of 2023, a nearly 22% increase compared to the previous year, according to a new report.
LendingTree said Pennsylvania residents filed more than 126,000 fraud reports in the first three quarters of last year, costing an average of $1,250 per report.
In its report, LendingTree said it looked at the Federal Trade Commission's data from the first nine months of 2023, which is the latest available data. During that timeframe, LendingTree said fraud reportedly cost consumers $7 billion, putting Americans on track to lose the most money to scams since the FTC started publishing related data in 2019.
One in seven consumers who reported fraud in the first nine months of 2023 experienced a financial loss of more than $10,000, which has grown yearly since 2020, LendingTree reports.
"For fraudsters, it's a golden age," Matt Schulz, LendingTree's chief credit analyst, said in the report. "Very little about our lives isn't digitized and accessible online. That means most of our important private data, including bank information, is more vulnerable than ever in a lot of ways."
Older Americans are often thought of as falling prey to scams more often, but according to LendingTree, people ages 30 to 39 reported the most cases of fraud, filing nearly 153,000 reports. Those ages 60 to 69, however, lost the most money, with fraud costing them $744 million.
"Younger Americans are so completely online today that the amount of information coming at them is like drinking from a fire hose," Schulz said. "It's so hard to be diligent about every little thing when raising a family, taking the kids to soccer practice and knocking 500 things off your to-do list. Constant overwhelm may make young people more vulnerable to scammers."
How to protect yourself from scams
The FTC offers tips online for recognizing scams and protecting yourself from fraudsters.
The FTC says scammers will often pretend to be from an organization you know, telling you there's a problem or prize and you have to pay. A red flag is when they insist on a specific payment like using cryptocurrency, sending money on a payment app or buying gift cards. Scammers will also try to pressure you to act immediately before you have time to think, the FTC says.
To avoid scams, the FTC says you shouldn't give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn't expect
"Honest organizations won't call, email, or text to ask for your personal information, like your Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers," the FTC writes on its website.
So if you get an email or text that you think is real, it's best not to click any links, but instead contact the company through a website you know is trustworthy or by looking up their phone number. Resist the urge to act immediately, the FTC says, and before you do anything, talk to someone you trust, because they could help you realize it's a scam.
If you think you were the victim of a scam, you can report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
