Scams Galore!

Texas Ranks Third on Scam Meter

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – Over the past year, Texans have survived crippling winter weather, a global pandemic and nearly enough rain at times to float a battleship. All three of those factors contributed to keeping the people of the Lone Star State indoors.

With so many people staying inside, internet usage skyrocketed and so did scams. As a matter of fact, the website www.socialcatfish.com released a study earlier this week following an analysis of 2021 data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); proprietary poll results from 750 scam victims; and exclusive interviews with the FBI, detectives, and cybersecurity experts.

The study reported Texas ranked third in the nation “… losing a record $313,565,225 in 2020. The state had 38,640 victims come forward equating to an average loss of $8,115 per person.”  

“A record $4.2 billion was stolen nationally,” the research further indicated, “aided by increased online activity during COVID-19. The actual numbers are likely exponentially higher after a poll of 750 victims conducted as part of the study found a staggering 73% of them were too ashamed to file a report. Facebook was the No. 1 app where most scams originated; and Generation Z, the group that is supposed to be tech-savvy, is experiencing a 52% increase in victims since 2017, the most of any age group.”

Other findings from the study indicated there were five types of scams that stole the most money. They were:

1) Business Email Compromise Scam: $1.8 billion, an average of $96,373 per person.

2) Romance Scams: $600 million, an average of $25,272 per person.

3) Investment Scam: $336 million, an average of $38,287 per person.

4) Online Shopping Scam: $265 million, an average of $2,434 per person.

5) Identity Theft Scam: $219 million, an average of $5,065 per person.

“Facebook is the No. 1 App Where Scams Begin: Facebook is the No. 1 most scammed platform, followed by Google Hangouts, Instagram, WhatsApp, Plenty of Fish, Match.com, OurTime, Zoosk, Words with Friends and Tinder,” the report stated.

The five most-scammed states:

No. 1 California: $621 million stolen, an average loss of $8,936 per victim.

No. 2 New York: $415 million, an average of $12,051 per person.

No. 3 Texas: $313 million, an average of $8,115 per person.

No. 4 Florida: $295 million, an average of $5,485 per victim.

No. 5 Ohio: $170 million, an average of $12,679 per person.

One of the biggest roadblocks to combating scams centers around law enforcement jurisdictional Issues.  

“Money lost to online scammers is rarely recovered. A major impediment is that scammers generally originate from outside the U.S. where our law enforcement does not have jurisdiction. Interviews with the FBI confirm they are ramping up cooperation with other countries to combat this issue,” the study reported.

Fortunately, the report also provided several tips to avoid being scammed. These are:

• Never Give Money: To someone on the Internet whom you have never met in person.
• Do Not Give Personal Information: To someone with whom you are talking online. Even your birthday could be used to drain your bank account.
• Video Chat: Do not trust that someone is who they say they are without at least video chatting with them or meeting them in person first.
• Beware a Job Overseas: If they have a job overseas, this is a huge red flag that they might be a scammer since they usually use this as an excuse to not see you or video chat with you.
• Random Social Media Requests: If someone is randomly contacting you out of the blue on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, be cognizant that it may be a scammer on the other side.
• Password Manager: Make sure to have a password manager to create many passwords for your accounts. This will prevent scammers from accessing all of your accounts if they get your one password.
• AI technology: Can find scam emails automatically before they can fool you into thinking they are real.
• Reverse Search: Can verify if the person you are talking to is legitimate.  You can also search your own email address reverse to see if it has been compromised by a data breach.
• Report Scams to Government: If someone has or tries to scam you, report it to the FTC, IC3, FBI and IdentityTheft.gov

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].