SHERIDAN — A recent study conducted by the CyberWyoming Alliance revealed the most common online fraud tactics affecting citizens around the state. Sheridan County Commissioner and former sheriff Allen Thompson said internet fraud is a continuing issue locally, sometimes impacting victims to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
Thompson said the scale of the money lost to internet scams is commonly underestimated. From the outside looking in, people might estimate losses of tens to hundreds of dollars, but Thompson said victims of internet fraud regularly lose out on thousands.
“As long as I was in law enforcement and continuing into my retirement, I heard cases about various scams… It’s the social engineering ones that are really the most costly. Those can start from dating sites or chat rooms or Facebook messaging, things like that,” Thompson said. “They blossom into an online relationship with someone, usually in a foreign country, and people will [ask for] money to travel over to get their visa or help a family member or something like that. It starts small and depending on how long it goes, they can get into the 10s or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
While the losses incurred by those victimized by fraud can reach almost unfathomable heights, Thompson said it’s all too common for those who suffer losses to the tune of thousands of dollars to not report the incident to local law enforcement — what does get reported is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of actual losses.
“We don’t realize what the dollar amount is because I think a person that has the means to lose $100,000 is not as likely to report it to law enforcement. They feel like they’ve been scammed and it’s their fault and they’re hesitant to pick up the phone and call,” Thompson said.
A study conducted by the CyberWyoming Alliance, published March 10, found that the largest category of scam reports fake delivery notices, invoices, fraud alerts, offers and purchases. The most impersonated companies include Amazon with 46 reports, Norton with 40 reports, Paypal and other online payment companies with 33 reports, Microsoft with 32 reports and federal government agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration with 29 reports.
According to the CyberWyoming Alliance, Wyomingites reported email as the primary method for scammers to contact them with 665 emails reported in the three years captured in the study.
“I just wish that we could reach everyone and convince them that if it’s too good to be true, then it is. I’ve been down that path before too,” Thompson said. “I saw a four-wheeler for sale on the internet and I reached out to him and said ‘I’ll meet you in person and pay cash.’ We emailed back and forth for three days and I finally realized I [was] being scammed and it was too good to be true. I didn’t lose any money, but I wasted a lot of time, so it’s difficult.”
The CyberWyoming Alliance suggests awareness is the best way to combat falling victim to online fraud, encouraging families and businesses to hold regular discussions around common scams and tactics to look out for.