Neal Augenstein | [email protected]

February 9, 2024, 3:27 PM

Scammers were busy in 2023 — and consumers, including those in the nation’s capital, paid the price.

“Consumers in D.C. reported losing more than $13 million,” said Federal Trade Commission spokesman Jay Mansfield. “That reflects almost 6,300 reports of fraud.”

The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network database includes reports from consumers, as well as from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Identity theft topped the list of issues reported to the FTC by consumers in the District. When it comes to scams, the top fraud reported was impostor scams, according to Mansfield.

“The way a consumer would typically come across this is either they get a notification that an account has been opened in their name, or they go to get a credit card and discover somebody opened a credit card in their name in the last few months — and they didn’t realize that, because they didn’t do it,” Mansfield said.

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