The Federal Trade Commission’s new rule on government and business impersonation went into effect April 1, and the agency is highlighting new data on the most common ways consumers are targeted by these treacherous scams. Combined, reported losses to these impersonation scams topped $1.1 billion for the year, more than three times what consumers reported in 2020.

The new data spotlight reveals the five most commonly reported ways that government and business impersonators convince consumers to turn over their hard-earned money: copycat account security alerts; phony subscription renewals; fake giveaways, discounts, or money to claim; bogus problems with the law; and made-up package delivery issues.

The FTC is also accepting public comments until April 30, 2024, on a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking that would prohibit the impersonation of individuals and prohibit providing scammers with the means and instruments to execute such scams.

Click Read More below to read the complete press release.