ATLANTA — Financial and internet crimes are costing Americans billions of dollars every year.
The most recent data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that number’s climbed to $16 billion per year.
Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer spoke to financial experts about what’s making those numbers suddenly worse, and how to spot scams before you become a victim.
Fake texts and emails are flying around inboxes across the United States, and now they’re getting more sophisticated as criminals use AI.
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Bankrate has new numbers showing that as many as two of every five Americans say they’ve experienced some type of financial fraud or scam in the past year.
“It’s just not as simple as it used to be to really spot a scam,” Bankrate analyst Sarah Foster told Channel 2 Action News. “you know, it used to be if you saw a suspicious link or an email with many typos and grammar mistakes, that raised alarm bells. But now we have deep fakes and impersonation scams.”
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This week, the Federal Trade Commission is reaching out with safety messages, saying the four signs something is a scam are:
- When someone pretends to be from an organization you trust
- Saying there’s a problem or a prize if you do something
- Adding pressure, scammers always say it’s “urgent”
- Telling you to pay in unusual ways like wiring money, paying with gift cards or using cryptocurrency
“Then they share their information and within seconds, the money that’s in their account is gone,” Foster said.
Being skeptical of every email and text you get can help stay out of danger.
“All it takes is one mistake to fall for a scam and even people who are the most careful can still kind of make that mistake at some point in their lives,” Foster said. “Frankly, you just really have to always have your guard up.”
No matter how much someone on email or on the phone is telling you it’s an emergency, it’s important to take your time, don’t rush and try to talk to someone you trust so you can keep your cash.
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