National Fraud Center Releases Top 10 Scams of 2011
The National Consumers League (NCL) has released its annual report on the top scams reported to its national Fraud Center, finding that the most frequently reported scam to NCL’s Fraud Center in 2011 involved bogus prizes and sweepstakes, with fake check scams and emotion-based pitches involving scammers posing as loved ones appearing in the top ten.
Another finding is that scammers appear to have targeted their scams at particular age groups more than ever in 2011. For example, complaints involving bogus prizes, sweepstakes, and free gifts made up 26.98 percent of complaints overall. However, among consumers ages 56-65 and above 65, these types of complaints made up 40.96 percent and 60.12 percent of the total, respectively. Similarly, fake check scams made up 26.65 percent of complaints overall. Among consumers age 18-25, fake check scam complaints made up 45.74 percent of the total.