In 2023, data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alone show more than 330,000 reports of business impersonation scams and nearly 160,000 reports of government impersonation scams.
That amounts to nearly half the frauds reported directly to the agency, the FTC said.
Combined, reported losses to these impersonation scams topped $1.1 billion for the year, more than three times what consumers reported in 2020.
Reports show an increasingly blurred line between business and government impersonation scams: many scammers impersonate more than one organization in a single scam – for example, a fake Amazon employee might transfer you to a fake bank or even a fake FBI or FTC employee for fake help.