Northwest Iowa — From time to time we tell you about new scams that are being perpetrated, or at least attempted, on unsuspecting victims here in northwest Iowa. But until now we haven’t had any real numbers to illustrate the impact of these schemes. Until now.
Internet Privacy Day, January 28th, and Safer Internet Day (February 6th) are just around the corner, and CenturyLink has collected data on the impact of these online scams.
According to their report, Iowans were swindled out of $4.01-MILLION by scammers last year. Iowa was fairly low on the scale of the number of people who were scammed, with 4.87 victims per 10-thousand people. The average amount of money lost by those who did fall for the scams totaled $2,618.00.
The state with the lowest average money loss was Nevada, at $6.53, while the highest was Arizona at $9,251.46.
Scammers are coming up with new ways to separate you from your hard-earned cash every day, so remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Use your common sense and avoid becoming a victim of scammers.
