New FTC rule aims to crack down on impersonation scams
New FTC rule aims to crack down on impersonation scams
A new rule from the Federal Trade Commission that just went into effect this week is designed to better deter scammers from posing as, say, a bank to get people to send them money or give up their account details.
It also gives the FTC more tools to go after scammers and try to get consumers their money back; this new rule goes into effect as these kinds of impersonation scams are on the rise.
Consumers lost more than $1.1 billion to impersonation scams, according to the FTC.
“That’s more than three times what consumers reported in 2020,” said Christopher Brown, an attorney at the FTC. “The financial injury is quite breathtaking.”
Increasingly, this is happening via email and text, though calls are still common.
According to Teresa Murray at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, scammers may say things like “your bank account has been hacked and you need to click this link to stop it’ or ‘Amazon security in your account has been breached.'”
Often, she said that scammers have a lot of your personal information already thanks to big data breaches.
“If somebody calls you up, and they sound very business-like, very professional, they know your name, they know your address, the easier it is to convince you that they are who they say they are,” she said.
Murray’s best advice? Never answer unexpected calls, texts or emails, and never click the link. In most cases, she added that people who lose money through these scams don’t get it back.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
