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No; this isn’t an action movie. But new enhancements to econsumer.gov — and a new interactive international dashboard for Consumer Sentinel reports — give the FTC, other government agencies, and people across the globe scam-fighting powers that rival those of an action hero. Econsumer.gov is a site created in 2001 by members of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), to gather and share consumer complaints about international scams. The FTC leads the econsumer.gov project.

 

One of the new interactive dashboards is based on econsumer.gov reports. It identifies the world’s top fraud locations, as well as reported financial losses from this fraud. The second set of dashboards tracks international reports submitted to the Consumer Sentinel Network. These include reports filed by foreign consumers against U.S.-based companies, and reports filed by U.S. consumers against foreign companies, with data grouped by geographic region.

 

Here’s just a sample of what we found: In 2019, econsumer.gov had 40,432 reports of international scams, with reported losses exceeding $151 million. Beyond the United States, most reports came from France, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Online shopping scams topped the list of reports.

 

Also in 2019, the Consumer Sentinel database revealed that 91,560 people reported losing more than $276.5 million to scams based outside the U.S. When you look at reports against companies outside the U.S., the top five categories were online shopping, tech support scams, romance scams, advance fee loans/credit arrangers, and prizes/sweepstakes/lotteries. Outside the U.S., companies based in Canada saw the most consumer complaints, followed by companies in China, India, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

 

It’s reassuring to know there is practically no place in the world where scammers and dishonest businesses can’t be called out. But these tools are only as powerful as the information people worldwide put into them. Wherever you are on the planet, you can tell us about the scams you experience. If your report is about a U.S. company, go to ftc.gov/complaint. And if you’re telling us about a company in another country, file your report at econsumer.gov.

 

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It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

April
May 14, 2020
How is submitting reports to econsumer.gov different than reporting to ic3.gov?
DOTTIO
May 14, 2020
Someone broke a PROMISE to Immigration and stole 300,000 CAD from me in 2009 -2010. Some was in goods, other in money and credit. I could not afford a place to live or food to eat for 2 years. I was freeloading with friends. I now live in a 1 bedroom after shared accommodations, then bachelor. He lives in the Caribbean Islands. He works in severel islands and lives in Saint Vincent. I met him here in Canada at Church. He is apparently stealing from business partners, employees, daughter, etc. It is difficult to find a lawyer that will take my case. I have tried and tried and tried. I have his data.
DebbieH
May 14, 2020
This all sounds good but what about actually helping those who are the victims of scams? All the agencies do is collect data; no one does anything more. It’s so depressing.
FTC Staff
May 21, 2020

In reply to by DebbieH

The information people give in their complaints goes into a secure database that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies use for investigations. Those investigations can be used to bring cases that result in refunds and other help for scam victims. The FTC has a list of recent cases resulting in refunds. 

SAMCO
May 21, 2020
Those systems are not workable, NO result. Scammers are becoming devils. They are not using their own names, they are using well known and good names, we can't damage the names of innocent people, also will not report as I may damage my name. WHAT WE NEED IS A REAL OFFICE WITH SMART EMPLOYERS AND PREPARE GOOD CONTACT FACILITIES, IN THIS CASE WE MAY FORWARD OUR E-MAILS OR FAX IT TO THIS OFFICE AND THE EMPLOYEE CHECK THE INFORMATION AND REGISTER IN A DATA. ALL AVAILABLE ANTI FRAUD SYSTEMS ARE NOT WORKABLE.
FTC Staff
May 21, 2020

In reply to by SAMCO

You do not need to give your name when you report. You do not need to give the name of the scammer when you report. You can choose what information you will give. You can help law enforcement by sharing some details of a scam. Report a problem at www.econsumer.gov.

Spygirl
May 17, 2020
Please I have some questions is there a phone number or email address I can get please? Thank you
Victim of Ande…
May 21, 2020
+1850-631-4230 , +2349069124129 please be aware of this number he is a scammer using name of Anderson US army but the real identity of this man is from negeria. He will block mail you to send money $300- $500 to him or else he will post your nude photo using your face (edited picture) if you don't send him money... please help me to report scammer alert.
FTC Staff
May 21, 2020

In reply to by Victim of Ande…

You can report to www.FTC.gov/Complaint. The information you give will go into a secure database that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies use for investigations.

Aranka bencsik…
August 10, 2020
I've sent a report to several places .IC3, FBI, because I got a fake FBI arrest warrant .for the romantic cheat .I don't know anything since then On Linkedin, I discovered a photo of the cheat with another name. .?