BOISE, Idaho — Idahoans lost near $7 million to online scams last year.
That’s according to CenturyLinkQuote, which pored over FBI statistics and the 2018 Annual Report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center to identify the most at-risk states for internet scams.
CenturyLinkQuote released the 2nd Annual "Internet Scams" report Thursday.
Idaho ranked as the #22 state in victims per capita and the #35 state in loss amount.
Overall, Idaho experienced a total loss of $6,853,195 due to online scams and had 8.8 victims per capita, with an average loss per victim of $4,529.54.
Here are the Best vs. Worst:
• Alaska ranks #1 in worst victim rate (21.7 victims per 10,000 people). This increased from 19.7 victims per 10,000 people last year. They also maintained their 48th place rank in loss rate, with the average victim losing $2,256.30. This amount almost doubled from last year.
•Once again, the state where you're least likely to get scammed is South Dakota, where only 465 people were scammed in 2018. That's 5.3 per 10,000 residents, an increase from last year.
•The state where victims lose the least amount of money is Colorado, where victims lost an average of $6.08. Colorado ranks #4 in states where you're most likely to get scammed.
Internet scams are not a one size fits all. So how do scammers succeed?
Nationwide, the most common scam was non-payment/non-delivery, with 65,116 victims losing a total of $183,826,809.00. That's almost $6 every second.
This happens when someone is never paid for the goods and services they provide or when they do not receive what they already paid for.
Email account scams resulted in the most money loss. A business email is compromised and makes illegal wire transfers of funds into the scammer’s account. Over $1 billion was lost in this scam alone.
Nearly 41,000 victims were scammed on social media, losing over $101 million. Another $182 million was lost through virtual currency, affecting over 36,000 people.
People 60 and older are the most targeted age group for scammers. They lost nearly $650 million in internet scams, including confidence/relationship fraud. Scammers convince people to send money to someone who sounds trustworthy (like an extended family member, a trusted brand name, or a possible romantic partner).
You can access the full report here: Internet Scams Are Taking America's Money.
