FTC says Americans are losing more money to social media fraud than ever before

Losses from fraud originating on social media skyrocketed in 2021, according to data the Federal Trade Commission released Thursday. More than 95,000 individuals reported losses totaling $770 million as a result of fraud initiated on social media. That number is up from $258 million in 2020 and just $42 million in 2017. Part of that growth has been driven by record losses to cryptocurrency scams. Investment scams made up 37% of all reported fraud losses originating on social media in …

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