Common Scams & Threats We See

At Eve Security, we focus on the scams that hit everyday people the hardest. To ground this in reality, we look at real-world data from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 Data Book (covering 6.47 million reports in 2024).

Below are some of the most common fraud patterns in that data, translated into plain language, along with how they typically show up in people's lives.

🎭 Imposter scams

What the FTC data shows

• "Imposter Scams" were one of the three largest overall report categories in 2024, alongside credit reporting and identity theft.
• There were 845,806 imposter scam reports, with reported losses of $2.95 billion.
• These include people pretending to be:
  • A romantic partner
  • A government agency
  • A family member in trouble
  • A well-known company
  • A tech support expert

How this tends to look in real life

Someone reaches out claiming to be "from the government," "from your bank," "from tech support," or a new romantic interest. They build urgency, then try to get you to send money or give them access (account numbers, one-time codes, remote access to your device, etc.).

💰 Investment scams

What the FTC data shows

• Of the more than $12 billion people reported losing to fraud in 2024, over $5 billion was to investment-related scams.
• Among the top 10 fraud categories, investment-related reports had the highest median individual loss, at $9,196.

How this tends to look in real life

You're offered an "investment" that sounds unusually good—very high returns, low or no risk, and pressure to act quickly. It might involve crypto, trading platforms, or special "insider" opportunities. The key pattern: large sums, big promises, and pressure to move money fast.

💼 Business & job opportunity scams

What the FTC data shows

• "Business and Job Opportunities" appears as a distinct fraud category in the 2024 data.
• It's one of the top categories by median loss, at around $2,250 per report.

How this tends to look in real life

Scammers advertise jobs, side hustles, or "business opportunities" that require you to pay fees up front (training, equipment, coaching, franchise kits, etc.). The promised work or income never materializes, or is far less than what was implied.

🏠 Mortgage relief & debt management scams

What the FTC data shows

• "Mortgage Foreclosure Relief and Debt Management" is another tracked category, with a median loss of $1,500.
• It appears alongside other major problem areas like investment and job-related fraud in the top-loss list.

How this tends to look in real life

These scams target people who are behind on payments or stressed about debt. Someone claims they can "fix" your mortgage, stop foreclosure, or erase debt—but only if you pay them first or start sending payments to them instead of your lender.

🛒 Online shopping & fake reviews

What the FTC data shows

In the list of fraud-related report categories for 2024, "Online Shopping and Negative Reviews" appears among the top problem areas.

How this tends to look in real life

You pay for something you saw online—often through an ad, marketplace, or social media—and:

• The item never arrives
• The item is much lower quality than promised
• You discover the store disappears or ignores refund requests

Fake or misleading reviews can make these sites look more trustworthy than they really are.

🔒 Privacy, data security, and cyber threats

What the FTC data shows

"Privacy, Data Security, and Cyber Threats" is listed as a distinct category in the 2024 data.

How this tends to look in real life

This bucket covers reports where people's personal information or devices are at risk—for example:

• Misuse of personal data
• Accounts being accessed without permission
• Harmful or suspicious activity tied to online services or devices

These issues often overlap with other scams (phishing emails, fake login pages, malicious links, etc.).

🎁 Prize, sweepstakes, & lottery scams

What the FTC data shows

"Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries" is another fraud category tracked in the report.

How this tends to look in real life

Someone tells you that you've won money, a prize, or a sweepstakes you don't clearly remember entering. Then they ask you to pay fees, taxes, or processing costs before you can "claim" the winnings.

✈️ Travel, vacations, and timeshare scams

What the FTC data shows

"Travel, Vacations and Timeshare Plans" appears in the ranking of report categories as well.

How this tends to look in real life

These scams can involve "too good to be true" vacation packages, timeshare resale schemes, or discounted travel clubs that require large upfront payments with little or no real benefit.

💳 How people lose money: payment & contact methods

The FTC data also highlights how scammers get paid and how they reach you:

• Bank transfers and payments accounted for the largest total losses, at about $2.09 billion.
• Cryptocurrency was next, at about $1.42 billion in reported losses.
• Credit cards were the most frequently mentioned payment method in fraud reports.
• Email was listed as the contact method in about 25% of fraud reports where a method was identified; those email-based scams led to around $502 million in losses, with a median loss of $600.

Put simply: bank transfers, crypto, and email-driven scams show up heavily in the loss data.

🛡️ What this means for you (and how Eve Security fits in)

We use data like the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 Data Book to focus on the real problems people are actually reporting—especially imposter scams, investment and job-related fraud, online shopping fraud, and cyber threats tied to privacy and data security.

If something feels off—an email, text, ad, website, or "urgent" request to move money:

1. Don't rush. Scammers depend on you acting quickly.
2. Save evidence. Take screenshots or photos of messages, websites, or pop-ups.
3. Send it to us. With Eve Security, you can submit screenshots and describe what's happening in your own words; we'll review what you're seeing and email back analysis and a recommendation, grounded in patterns like the ones above.

You don't need to know what kind of scam it is. If it looks wrong, confusing, or just "not quite right," send it to us and we'll help you figure out what's going on.