Iowa (RI) — A new federal report shows scams cost Iowans more than 50 million dollars last year.
The Federal Trade Commission says it received nearly 14 thousand fraud reports from Iowa consumers in 2024. The median loss was around 400 dollars, while the total lost was nearly 52 million dollars. The FTC says the top categories of scams reported by Iowans were business and government imposter scams, online shopping scams, and scams involving prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries. While the category of Iowa victims age 80 and older was one of the smallest, it was the largest for losses, averaging about two-thousand dollars each. Phony investment schemes took Iowans for nearly 20 million dollars, while the second-most expensive were romance scams, costing nearly eight million.
Iowans can report fraud, scams, or bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, or call the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office at 888-777-4590. Click here for more information.
