Last year the Federal Trade Commission released data showing that consumers reported losing more than $10 billion dollars to fraud in 2023.
This marks a 14% increase over reported losses in 2022, and those numbers are projected to increase again for the year 2024.
Those numbers also only represent what's been reported by consumers. Experts say that the actual dollar amount is much larger, and the number of people being targeted is much higher.
Wednesday on the “Sound of Ideas” we’ll discuss the evolving scam landscape and how these scammers are getting more creative and intricate with how they’re getting money out of people.
Those include the growing number of imposter situations, where scammers are pretending to be a company like Amazon or UPS, or a government organization like the FBI.
Sheryl Harris from the Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs and Jon Miller Steiger from the Federal Trade Commission will be on the program to offer advice on how people can protect themselves from these scams, and what warning signs to watch out for.
That conversation heads your way after a conversation about President Trump's Tuesday night address to Congress. We will recap the speech with political science professors.
People can also report and learn about scams through Cuyahoga County's site.
Scam Squad
Or the FTC's...
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
The Scam Squad line is 216-443-7226
Information about SNAP card fraud or scams...
Cuyahoga County Information Page
Guests:
- Sheryl Harris, Director, Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs
- Jon Miller Steiger, Director, Federal Trade Commission – East Central Region
- Tom Sutton, Ph.D., Retired Professor of Political Science, Baldwin Wallace University
- Robert Alexander, Ph.D., Founding Director, Democracy and Public Policy Research Network. Bowling Green State University
