FTC Reveals Red Flags to Detect Impostor Scams, The New No. 1 Fraud

March 9, 2017

A growing number of consumers are falling victim to impostor scams. That’s when a con artist impersonates someone trustworthy, like a government official or law enforcement agent.

A new report from the Federal Trade Commission says complaints about impostor scams surpassed identity theft for the first time. The FTC looked at more than three million consumer complaints. American consumers reported losing more than $744 million overall to fraud in 2016, averaging roughly $1,000 per victim...