Erie County residents are reporting slightly less fraud and identity theft so far in 2022 than they did during the same period last year.
Imposter scams are the most commonly reported type of fraud in the county. This is when a criminal calls, texts or emails you, pretending to be a law enforcement officer or someone else in authority.
They say something like you owe money to the Internal Revenue Service, your computer has been infected or a loved one has been jailed. To resolve the urgent problem, you need to send payment, usually by gift cards or wire transfer.
Nationwide, this type of scam cost Americans $2.3 billion in 2021, the Federal Trade Commission reported. In Erie County, 332 people reported imposter scams to the FTC between Jan. 1-Sept. 30, 2022.
It’s more than double the second-most commonly reported type of fraud in the county, online shopping and negative reviews (141 reports). That’s when a scammer either creates a fake shopping website or a fake review on a real website to get a refund.
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Other commonly reported frauds in Erie County include prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries (68 reports), internet services (60 reports), and telephone and mobile services (36 reports).
Overall, the FTC received 1,471 fraud reports from Erie County residents during the first nine months of 2022, a rate of 541 per 100,000 residents. It’s a bit lower than the 1,872 reports and rate of 688 per 100,000 the…
