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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed its findings on the most impersonated companies during 2023 in a bid to help potential customers and victims to better prepare themselves against such attacks.
The report found the most-spoofed company, with a total of 52,000 impersonation scam reports, was Best Buy and its subsidiary, Geek Squad, amounting to $15 million in losses.
Rounding up the top three were Amazon, with 34,000 complaints, and PayPal, with 10,000 reports. From the 10 most impersonated companies alone, a total of 132,000 instances of impersonation scams were noted, and many more likely went unnoted or even unnoticed.
Watch out for impersonation scams from these companies
Despite having considerably more instances of recognized impersonation scams than any of the other companies, the financial losses associated with Best Buy and Geek Squad scams put it in sixth place. The $15 million in losses were dwarfed by the $60 million in Microsoft-related losses, despite the tech giant having significantly fewer (7,000) recorded instances.
The difference is even more considerable when comparing the average cost per attack – $288 for Best Buy/Geek Squad versus $8,571 for Microsoft.
In light of the troubling outlook, the FTC has shared information about some of the most common tactics to be aware of, including service renewal fees, fake security pop-ups and fees to claim non-existent prizes. The FTC also noted the rise in social media as an attack vector together with the classic email and fraudulent gift cards.
To help customers avoid falling victims to scams, the FTC advises buyers to question and challenge anyone requesting payment by a specific method, such as gift cards or cryptocurrency. Customers should report scams via ReportFraud.ftc.gov in order to provide the agency with more insight into fraudulent activity and prevent future attacks.
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