New data shows FTC received 111,817 fraud reports from New York consumers in 2023

New York consumers reported losing $400,897,419 to scams last year

Submitted by the Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission received 111,817 fraud reports from consumers in New York in 2023, according to newly released data.

New York consumers reported losing a total of $400,897,419 to fraud, with a median loss of $500.

The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network is a database that receives reports directly from consumers, as well as from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies; the Better Business Bureau; industry members; and nonprofit organizations. Reports from around the country about consumer protection issues – including identity theft, fraud and other categories – are a key resource for FTC investigations that stop illegal activities and, when possible, provide refunds to consumers.

Across all types of reports, the FTC received a total of 260,523 reports from consumers in New York in 2023.

The top category of reports received from consumers in New York was identity theft; followed by credit bureaus, information furnishers and report users; imposter scams; online shopping and negative reviews; and banks and lenders.

A full breakdown of reports received in 2023 is now available on the FTC’s data analysis site at https://ftc.gov/exploredata. The data dashboards there break down the reports across a number of categories, including by state and metropolitan area.

Fraud Losses Up Nationwide

Nationally, consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, up from $8.8 billion in 2022. Consumers reported losing more money to investment scams – more than $4.6 billion – than any other category in 2023. The second-highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with losses of $2.7 billion reported.

The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, with the most commonly reported being imposter scams, followed by online shopping scams. Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries; investment-related reports; and business and job opportunities rounded out the top five fraud categories.

Sentinel received 5.4 million reports overall in 2023. Of these, more than 1 million were identity theft reports received through the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website.

The FTC uses the reports it receives through Sentinel as the starting point for many of its law enforcement investigations, and the agency also shares these reports with approximately 2,800 federal, state, local and international law enforcement professionals. While the FTC does not intervene in individual complaints, Sentinel reports are a vital part of the agency’s law enforcement mission.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, stop deceptive and unfair business practices and scams, and educate consumers. Report fraud, scams or bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Get consumer advice at consumer.ftc.gov. Also, follow the FTC on social media, subscribe to press releases, and read the FTC’s blogs.

Contact for consumers: Consumer Response Center.