California consumers reported losing $1,348,767,079 to scams last year
The Federal Trade Commission received 213,223 fraud reports from consumers in California in 2022, according to newly released data.
California consumers reported losing a total of $1,348,767,079 to fraud, with a median loss of $900.
The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network is a database that receives reports directly from consumers, as well as from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Better Business Bureau, industry members, and non-profit organizations. Reports from around the country about consumer protection issues—including identity theft, fraud, and other categories—are a key resource for FTC investigations that stop illegal activities and, when possible, provide refunds to consumers.
Across all types of reports, the FTC received a total of 498,397 reports from consumers in California in 2022.
The top category of reports received from consumers in California was Identity Theft; followed by Imposter Scams; Credit Bureaus, Information Furnishers and Report Users; Online Shopping and Negative Reviews; and Banks and Lenders.
Fraud Losses Up Nationwide
Nationally, consumers reported losing nearly $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, up from $5.8 billion in 2021. Consumers reported losing more money to investment scams—more than $3.8 billion—than any other category in 2022. That amount more than doubles the amount reported lost in 2021. The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with losses of $2.6 billion reported, up from $2.3 billion in 2021.
The FTC received fraud reports from 2.4 million consumers last year, with the most commonly reported being imposter scams, followed by online shopping scams. Prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries; investment related reports; and business and job opportunities rounded out the top five fraud categories.
Sentinel received more than 5.1 million reports overall in 2022. Of these, more than 1.1 million were identity theft reports received through the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website.
The FTC uses the reports it receives through Sentinel as the starting point for many of its law enforcement investigations, and the agency also shares these reports with approximately 2,800 federal, state, local, and international law enforcement professionals. While the FTC does not intervene in individual complaints, Sentinel reports are a vital part of the agency’s law enforcement mission.
A full breakdown of reports received in 2022 is now available on the FTC’s data analysis site at https://ftc.gov/exploredata. The data dashboards there break down the reports across a number of categories, including by state and metropolitan area.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, stop deceptive and unfair business practices and scams, and educate consumers. Report fraud, scams, or bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Get consumer advice at consumer.ftc.gov. Also, follow the FTC on social media, subscribe to press releases, and read the FTC’s blogs.