Security News > 2022 > January > FTC: Americans lost $770 million from social media fraud surge
As revealed by the FTC, over 95,000 US consumers reported losses of roughly $770 million after getting scammed on social media platforms.
"More than one in four people who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media with an ad, a post, or a message. In fact, the data suggest that social media was far more profitable to scammers in 2021 than any other method of reaching people." the FTC said.
The most profitable social media scams were those promoting bogus investment opportunities, with more than half of reports in 2021 mentioning money and cryptocurrency lost to promises of huge returns.
Romance scams were the second most profitable fraud on social media after reaching record highs during the last years.
The most significant number of scam reports linked to social media were sent by people who lost money to online shopping scams where marketed products were not delivered.
Based on the social media platform identified in the reports of investment, romance, and online shopping scams, the most popular platforms among fraudsters were Facebook and Instagram.