Georgia ranked second nationally for fraud complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2016 with about 1,137 complaints per 100,000 residents.
The state was No. 11 in identity theft complaints with 124 complaints per 100,000 residents.
The FTC released its annual report on consumer complaints this weekend, and it showed that imposter scams is a fast-growing type of fraud, but debt collections scams remain the top issue.
For all types of scams, Georgia ranks behind only Florida for the most per population in the United States.
In Georgia, almost half of the total complaints were about debt collection scams, while scams related to telephone and mobile services was second. Imposter scams, where the fraudster pretends to be someone in a position of authority or trust, is third in the state.
The FTC issued a specific warning about that type of fraud.
Imposter scams are a serious and growing problem, and you can be sure that the FTC will use all the tools at its disposal to address it,” Thomas Pahl, acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said in a release. “That includes law enforcement actions against scammers and consumer education to help consumers avoid losing money.”
A common theme to all types of fraud is that the scam often involves a wire transfer of money, which is impossible to reverse and difficult to trace.
The FTC warned customers to be wary of anyone requesting payment by wire transfer, and said the government will never seek be paid by wire transfer.
Most scammers made initial contact with their victims by telephone, the FTC reported.
For Georgians who were victims of identity theft, employment and tax related scams were the top issue.
Overall, complaints to the FTC saw a modest drop in 2016. The agency received 3.05 million complaints last year, down from 3.14 million the year before.
