A new study says Washingtonians has the fifth-most victims of online scams in the country per capita.
“A Nigerian prince does not have millions of dollars to share with you. The IRS is not threatening to seize your tax return. Your social security number is not suspended or compromised,” Century Link says in the study mentioning some of the common scams used to gain people’s personal information and/or money.
CenturyLink Quote used data from the FBI’s annual report from 2018 based on the Internet Crime Complaint Center, compiling which states had the most victims and most money lost.
In Washington, the study says there are 14.55 victims of scams per 10,000 population averaging a $5,616.07 loss per victim. The victims per capita for the Evergreen state ranked fifth in the country, trailing Colorado (16.64), Nevada (17.44), Virginia (17.47) and Alaska (21.67).
Washington additionally ranked No. 28 in loss amount at over 60 million.
Idaho ranked 22nd in the study with 8.81 victims per capita and averaged $4,529.54 lost per victim. Idahoans saw 6.85 million in total loss.
Further info in the study said the most-targeted age group was people over 60, with 62,085 victims losing a combined $649,227,724.
