With the close of summer, the Sentinel Team is pleased to near completion on two important projects: Econsumer and VSAFE. The Sentinel Team is assisting with the Econsumer website overhaul, scheduled for launch later this month. Econsumer.gov, an initiative of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network, permits consumers to report international scams and learn how to combat fraud. The FTC is also a VSAFE partner: VSAFE.gov is a new government-wide website and call center designed to protect veterans, service members, and their families from fraud. And so you’ll now be able to find VSAFE military consumer reports in Sentinel.
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A new Sentinel Data Spotlight shows that fraud losses at Bitcoin ATM (or BTM) scams have apparently increased tenfold from 2020 to 2023. Consumers, most of whom are over 60, lost $65 million to fraud losses involving BTMs within the first six months of 2024; they reported a median loss of $10,000 in that period. The true amount is likely a lot more than that, given that most scams go unreported. The FTC learned about such vast underreporting in a nationwide fraud survey.
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To reduce such underreporting of fraud, the FTC is working to add substantive data partners. And so we welcome Comcast Corporation, MasterCard International, PepsiCo, Inc., VSAFE, and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. These new entities provide quality consumer reports in areas such as business and government impostors, job scams, and unsolicited emails and texts to consumers.
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Sentinel data supports the FTC’s new Rule on government and business impersonation. The Rule is now in effect, giving the agency stronger tools to combat and deter scammers who impersonate government agencies and businesses, enabling the FTC to file federal court cases seeking to get money back to injured consumers and civil penalties against Rule violators.
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Sentinel has many cross-border consumer reports beyond what we receive from Econsumer.gov. You can find such reports in Advanced Search/Complaint Data to find the “Cross-border Complaint?” field. Sentinel also has many military consumer reports beyond those from VSAFE. You can find such reports in the Advanced Search/Show All Fields/Consumer Information to find the “Member of armed forces or dependent?” field.
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Want to learn more Sentinel searching tips like the ones above? The next online Sentinel training session will be on Wednesday, October 16th at 12:00 EST; the following one will be on Thursday, November 21st at 12:00 EST. Please contact sentinel@ftc.gov to register or find out about future monthly sessions.
The FTC has plenty of advice on identity theft and online security. Here’s a consumer advisory with five clear tips on the topic.
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