WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced March 1 that it has released its annual summary of complaints reported by consumers.
The number of fraud complaints sent into the FTC dropped in 2017 but consumers reported losing more money than they did in 2016.
“While we received fewer overall complaints in 2017, consumers reported losing more money to fraud than they did the year before,” said Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. “This underscores the importance of the FTC’s work in educating consumers and cracking down on the scammers who try to take their money.”
The FTC noted the median loss from fraud in 2017 was $429. Individuals who suffered the most from scams were those who reported travel, vacation and timeshare fraud. These consumers lost a median amount of $1,710.
The data for 2017 also shows consumers in their 20s suffered from fraud more often than consumers older than 70. The amount of money lost, however, was much greater for older consumers. For example, people older than 80 lost a median amount of $1,092 while consumers ages 20-29 lost a median amount of $400.