According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the most impersonated company by scammers in 2023 was Best Buy, with Amazon and PayPal coming in second and third.
The FTC reports that customers lost $15 million to Best Buy and Geek Squad-related scams in 2023.
About 52,000 complaints were filed related to scammers pretending to be from Best Buy or Geek Squad last year.Â
About 34,000 reports were about scammers impersonating Amazon, and 10,000 were about scammers impersonating PayPal.
A common way scammers will try to steal your money is through email, according to the FTC.
One example is you may get an email saying a computer service you never signed up for is about to renew.
However, they may also use phone calls or social media to try to scam you.
The FTC reports that folks also lost money to scammers pretending to be Microsoft, Publishers Clearing House, Amazon, PayPal, Norton LifeLock, Apple, Comcast Xfinity, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
Reports show that the most common forms of payment scammers request are cryptocurrency and bank transfers, but they also may request payment apps (PayPal, CashApp, Zelle) or gift cards (Apple, Target and others).
"Our customers' safety is incredibly important to us. While scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, we have a team of experts and a number of resources dedicated to help prevent fraud and educate consumers, including how to spot warning signs and protect themselves," Best Buy said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.Â
Best Buy also asked customers to report any suspected scams by calling the customer support phone number.
The FTC offered the following tips to avoid scams:
- Stop and think before sending money to someone you don't know, especially if there is a sense of urgency.
- Don't click on links from unexpected messages.
- Don't trust caller ID, because scammers have ways of changing caller ID to pretend to be someone else.
- Never send payments to a business through gift cards, cryptocurrency, money transfer or a payment app.
