The COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in reports of scammers pretending to be from government agencies. While reports slowed since peaking in early 2021, victims lost more than twice as much money, according to new research by Better Business Bureau (BBB). BBB warns people to use caution if they are contacted by a government agency demanding money or offering a government grant for a fee.
BBB published an in-depth study in 2020 to educate the public about how to detect Government Impostor Scams. In 2021, consumers’ reports to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) soared with losses of more than $445 million in government impostor scams, including impostors offering phony government grants, up from $175.4 million reported in 2020.
Likewise, BBB Scam Tracker data showed victims of government grant scams lost more money in 2021 than in the previous year. The median loss in government grant scams rose from $800 to $1,000, making it one of the more expensive and eighth riskiest scam reported to Scam Tracker in 2021, according to BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust’s 2021 BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report. Scam Tracker reports also showed government impostor scams as the second-most reported scams by businesses in 2021.
Almost all government impostor scams use a law enforcement angle with some impersonating law enforcement agencies directly. In these cases, they have a fairly high success rate. FTC statistics show that more than one in five people who reported a…
