FTC: North Carolina consumers lost $93M from scams in ’21

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers in North Carolina made more than 64,000 fraud reports that totaled slightly more than $93 million in losses in 2021, according to a report from the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday.

The top category of reports received from consumers in North Carolina was identity theft, followed by imposter scams and credit bureaus. Other reports involved online shopping, and banks and lenders, the FTC said.

The median loss was $446, the FTC said.

Nationally, consumers reported losing more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021, up from $3.4 billion in 2020. More than $2.3 billion of losses reported last year were due to imposter scams, while online shopping accounted for about $392 million in reported losses from consumers.

The FTC received 2.8 million fraud reports from consumers in 2021, with imposter scams remaining the most common type of fraud reported to the agency. Online shopping was the second-most common fraud category reported by consumers.

Prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries; internet services; and business and job opportunities rounded out the top five fraud categories nationally.