adminAs the coronavirus pandemic has caused disruptions throughout the U.S., scammers have taken advantage of citizens’ concerns by stealing stimulus checks, fraudulently acquiring PPP loans and selling fake products to consumers.
The FTC recently released state-specific data on COVID-19-related issues, which consumers can check out to see what crimes are prevalent in their area. With user-friendly features, the FTC’s data dashboard lets you click on your state to see what people near you have been reporting. You can also see how people across the country are being affected.
Alabama has reported 378 cases of fraud and Georgia has reported 1,188. Florida has the largest tally of damages with 2,385 reported cases of fraud.
Since Jan. 1, people across the U.S. have made 91,808 COVID-19-related reports to the FTC. Most of these reports involve online shopping, with travel and vacations coming in second. The online shopping reports are mostly about people ordering products that never arrive, while most of the travel and vacation reports relate to refunds and cancellations. So far, people have cumulatively reported losing $59.27 million on these and other COVID-related fraud reports.
