Mississippi sees nearly $40 million in fraud losses from scams. See the warning signs

Fraud and consumer scams are increasing in the United States and are impacting various states including Mississippi.

That was the message delivered Wednesday during a community forum featuring Federal Trade Commission representatives, Mississippi legal experts and consumer protection advocates at the Arts Center of Mississippi building in downtown Jackson.

Lois Greisman, FTC's division of marketing practices associate director, said more than $10 billion in fraud losses were reported to the commission in 2023, which was a 14% increase in reported losses from 2022. Greisman said the losses were primarily due to investment scams involving cryptocurrency.

According to the commission's data, there was $37.9 million lost to fraud in Mississippi last year with 12,749 reported frauds. The data show the median fraud loss on average was $375 per person in 2023.

Imposter scams, online shopping and negative reviews, and prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries were the three most commonly reported frauds in Mississippi and across the state's five metropolitan areas.

"It's critical for the FTC to know what is going on in communities. Communities experience fraud differently, sometimes drastically different. We must know what's going on, on the ground," Greisman said to attendees.

Harold Kirtz, senior litigator with the FTC’s Southeast Regional Office, said people in Mississippi are met with these scams when they begin looking for job opportunities or "money-making opportunities."

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The FTC experts said that given the state's high poverty rate and lack of education to recognize scams, Mississippians can be enticed by the fake offers.

"In 2023, Mississippians filed over 400 complaints because they were caught up in job scams," Kirtz said. "That same year, another 1,500 Mississippi consumers complained that they were involved in other money-making schemes. Consumers were getting notices that they won prizes, and all they had to do was sending in a fee to claim their prize. There was no prize. People lost whatever money they paid into the scam."

FTC officials said chances are someone you know has been the target of fraud. Based on age, the most vulnerable populations were the elderly and small children, while based on race, more Black and Latino people were affected.

Juana Mollinedo, who experienced being scammed, said she sent $4,000 to a scammer on Dec. 13, 2023, in hopes of receiving church materials for St. Anne Catholic Church in Carthage.

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Mollinedo said she sent the funds through West Union bank and Walmart. Mollinedo said she only told her husband about the incident, no one else.

Adreain Reynolds, staff attorney with the North Mississippi Rural Legal Service Center, said the best thing to do is report those crimes despite there being a stigma of "shame" tied with being scammed.

The panel of experts shared a list of signs to look for in a scam:

1.     Scammers pretend to be from an organization you know such as banks or IRS

2.     Pretending you have an urgent problem or a prize to win

3.     Pressure you to act quickly

4.     Ask you to pay them in a specific way such as gift cards, a wire transfer or cryptocurrency

To report a fraud, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov .

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi sees nearly $40 million in fraud losses from scams. See the warning signs