By CODY RHEW
Intern, FTC Division of Consumer and Business Education
Scams affect everyone. And we mean everyone — your family, friends, and neighbors. Don’t believe us? Look at the data.
Find consumer protection data from the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network over at ftc.gov/exploredata. There, you can learn more about what the millions of reports across the United States tell us about topics like identity theft, unwanted calls, and other types of fraud. We’ve sliced and diced the data so you can get a deeper look at how fraud affects everyone. For instance, you can see how fraud affects people from different age groups differently, or the types of reports we get from military consumers.
Curious about what kinds of scams are in your neck of the woods? Check out this breakout by state or zoom all the way down into your nearest metro area. And, to give you the most accurate information and up-to-date data, our numbers are updated on a quarterly basis.
Still not convinced that this tool is for you? This video will get you ready to explore:
One key piece of data: we couldn’t do this without you. Your reports help the FTC (and our 3,000+ law enforcement colleagues) investigate and bring cases against fraud, scams, and bad business practices. So: if you see a scam, fraud, or bad business practice — tell us about it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Keep up with the latest scams, and what else the FTC is doing, by signing up for the FTC’s Consumer Alerts.