Scammers impersonate Best Buy, Amazon, PayPal most

The Federal Trade Commission’s new report on the companies impersonated most in scams points to a few trends. And it serves as another reminder of the importance of taking steps to stop robocalls and avoid scams.

The companies online scammers impersonate most

Best Buy (and its affiliated Geek Squad) and Amazon were the two most impersonated companies, by a significant margin. Amazon was impersonated three times more than the next highest volume company, PayPal.  

With Best Buy/Geek Squad, consumers usually receive emails claiming a computer service they never purchased is renewing for hundreds of dollars. 

Which company names lead to the biggest losses?

Scams using the Microsoft and Publishers Clearing House (PCH) names were by far the most lucrative; they caused $60 million and $49 million in losses respectively. Next came Amazon, at $19 million. 

With Microsoft, consumers typically receive a popup alert on their laptop about a supposed security issue and instructions to call a provided phone number for assistance. With PCH, consumers get phone calls that they won a sweepstakes and must pay taxes to get the jackpot.

How much money was lost to scammers pretending to be companies?

The lucrative nature of Microsoft and PCH impersonation scams becomes more apparent when looking at loss per scam. Here’s a look at the losses suffered by victims (rounded to the nearest hundred):

• Microsoft impersonators: $8,600 lost per scam.
• PCH impersonators: $7,000 lost per scam.
• Amazon impersonators: $600 lost per scam.
• Best Buy impersonators: $300 lost per scam.

The amount lost in a scam also correlates to the payment method. Investment scams are the most costly and they usually involve payments via wire transfers and cryptocurrency exchanges. Another typical payment method is through payment apps. Of the person-to-person apps reportedly used in scams, PayPal, Cash App and Zelle were the most popular, with about 70% of reported scams via these three. 

Top payment apps or payment services used in scams:

• PayPal
• Cash App
• Zelle
• Venmo
• Apple Pay

Gift cards were reported as the most common payment method that thieves pushed for various scams, including “romance scams, tech support scams, government impersonation scams and scams that impersonate people you know, like your boss or a grandchild,” the FTC said. Apple was the company whose gift card was most commonly used in scams, involving 30% of scams.

Top gift cards requested by scammers:

• Apple
• Target
• eBay
• Walmart
• Amazon

Bottom line: The highest volume of impersonation scams involved imposters who asked for gift card payments. However, the most costly scams made use of wire transfers of either money or cryptocurrency. 

Where scams begin

Victims are contacted most often through phone calls and emails, followed by social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

What else to watch for

Scammers can impersonate anyone: One of your friends or relatives, your local police department, a major bank, the FBI or the IRS and anyone else. Spoofing a phone number and/or changing Caller ID is terrifyingly easy.