The Sentinel Team is working on several projects this Summer, including getting feedback on Sentinel. We want to hear from you, particularly about what you like about Sentinel and suggestions for improvement. If you are interested, please email us at sentinel@ftc.gov to volunteer, and we will contact you later this Summer/Autumn.
Also, we are adding Amendments to the Confidentiality and Data Security Agreement to cover new developments. The Amendments will appear at a future point when you log onto Sentinel; it will update the terms and conditions of Sentinel use.
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We are now receiving fraud complaints from Walmart Corporation on various topics such as Walmart impostors and online shopping. We also welcome the complaints that we are receiving from the Society of Victims of Relationship Scams.
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Consumers reported losing over $1 billion to fraud involving cryptocurrencies from January 2021 through March 2022, according to a new FTC analysis. Fraud reports suggest cryptocurrency is quickly becoming the payment of choice for many scammers, with about one out of every four dollars reported lost to fraud paid in cryptocurrency.
The FTC’s latest Consumer Protection Data Spotlight finds that most of the cryptocurrency losses consumers reported involved bogus cryptocurrency investment opportunities, which totaled $575 million in reported losses since January 2021. These scams often falsely promise potential investors that they can earn huge returns by investing in their cryptocurrency schemes, but people report losing all the money they “invest.”
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For the first half of 2022, the Sentinel Team completed 18 outreach events for over 250 people. The next training session is July 20th at noon EST via Zoom (email sentinel@ftc.gov for details). Also, we’ll be at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service later this month.
Upon request, the FTC now can provide the Internet Protocol addresses for identity theft complaints starting from March 2020 to present. We can also search by IP address for that period. Contact sentinel@ftc.gov for details.
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We congratulate our FTC Office of Inspector General, which used Sentinel complaints to assist with in a federal case resulting in the indictment of several individuals for their participation in a multistate scheme involving mortgage fraud, credit repair, and government loan fraud. The individuals allegedly recruited clients for credit repair using various company names and “cleaned” their clients’ credit histories by filing false identity theft reports with the FTC through IdentityTheft.gov. After fraudulently inflating client credit worthiness, the individuals are alleged to have fraudulently obtained credit cards, disaster loans, and mortgages for themselves and their clients through false statements and fake documents.
We also congratulate our FTC colleagues who, with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, used Sentinel complaints to shut down a grant writing service that allegedly made false promises of COVID-19 related economic relief for minority-owned small businesses.
Do you have a Sentinel success story? We would love to hear about it at sentinel@ftc.gov.
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Sentinel has several travel scam complaints and an entire “Vacation and Travel” category. The FTC also has valuable consumer education information on the topic.
July is Military Consumer Month. Whether you’re a new recruit, a servicemember, or a soon-to-be veteran, the FTC wants to share some ways to steer clear of rip-offs and scammers, especially impostors.
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