Social media use can provide a slew of opportunities — from furthering your career to cataloging memories to finding love and friendships. However, it can also offer opportunities for criminals, like scamming and defrauding.
According to a new report by the Federal Trade Commission, one in four individuals who reported losing money due to fraud since 2021 said that the scam began on social media.
The cumulative losses reported from these schemes during the same period have amounted to $2.7 billion, the report found, eclipsing any other communication method by a considerable margin. By comparison, the losses from websites or apps were $2 billion for the same period, phone calls were $1.9 billion, and email was $0.9 billion.
