Mainers lost $6M to scams last year, as cases of fraud skyrocketed nationwide
Maine consumers lost nearly $6 million last year to scams, and thousands of Mainers reported cases of fraud, identity theft and other potentially illegal activity.
Data released Thursday by the Federal Trade Commission show that consumers nationwide were bilked of $3.3 billion by fraud in 2020, an 83% increase from the 2019 total of $1.8 billion.
In Maine, fraud accounted for $5.9 million in losses during 2020, with a median size of $211. The FTC received 8,600 reports originating in the state; identity theft, imposter scams, and online shopping and negative reviews were, respectively, the three most common types of consumer complaint.
The FTC received more than 4.7 million reports overall in 2020. Of these, nearly 1.4 million were identity theft reports. Online shopping was the second-most common fraud category reported by consumers, elevated by a surge of reports in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network receives reports directly from consumers, as well as from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Better Business Bureau, industry members and nonprofit organizations. Twenty-five states participate in the network.
A breakdown of reports received in 2020 is available on the FTC’s data analysis site.
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