Virginians were scammed out of more than $200M last year

Zoom in: Virginia residents filed more than 54,000 fraud reports in 2023. The median loss per victim was about $500, per the FTC.

• 20,782 of those reports came from folks in metro Richmond.
• Virginia ranked at No. 9 for the most fraud complaints in the nation per capita.

By the numbers: Last year, Virginians' top five categories for fraud reports were:

• 19,211 cases of identity theft.
• 18,613 imposter scams, like romance-related ones, per the FTC);
• 16,015 instances of credit bureau or reporting fraud (false info on one's report).
• 8,160 cases related to online shopping and negative review (includes costs that aren't disclosed or the inability to leave a negative review).
• 6,294 reports for banks and lenders, which includes predatory lending and payday loans.

Threat level: Over the last few years, Gen Xers, millennials and Gen Zers were 86% more likely to report losing money to online shopping scams than older adults, per the FTC.

Worthy of your time: What the FTC says to do if you were scammed.