The 10 Most Common Types of Fraud

1. Imposter Scams

In this scam, fraudsters pretend to be someone else to scare you or earn your trust. They can then try to persuade you to share personal information or send them money. Imposter scams can start with a phone call, text message, email, direct message online or even in person. Some examples include:

• Grandparent scams: The scammer pretends to be a relative or friend and calls you asking for financial assistance.
• Romance scams: The scammer pretends to have a platonic or romantic interest in you before scamming you.
• Robocall scams: The caller pretends to be from a government agency or a company representative.

Scammers also might pretend to work for the police, IRS, FBI, tech support, a well-known corporation or a charity. They may also use AI to impersonate other people. They can then use different scenarios and schemes to try to scam you.

How to Protect Yourself From Imposter Scams

Be cautious whenever someone unexpectedly tries to connect with you and asks you for personal information or wants you to click on a link—especially if it's an unknown number or email address. Even a text message about an attempted delivery could be from a scammer pretending to work for a shipping company.

It's always a good idea to end the initial communication, look up the organization the person claims to be from and contact it yourself. A legitimate customer service employee or government agent won't mind the delay and should appreciate that you're trying to be careful. Learn more: The Latest Scams You Need to Be Aware of

2. Online Shopping and Negative Reviews

Online shopping scams could involve websites that overcharge you for products or services, don't deliver the products or services you order on time (or at all) or don't honor their guarantees. The negative review fraud reports make up a small portion of the overall category, and they are for businesses that try to stop people from leaving honest reviews.

How to Protect Yourself From Online Shopping and Negative Review Fraud

Look for red flags on the website, such as unusually low prices or spelling errors in the URL. If you wound up on the website via an ad on social media and there are large countdown timers or limited-time sales, those could also be warning signs that the site is part of a scam.

If you decide to make a purchase, use a credit card, PayPal or another payment option that offers purchase protections. You can then dispute the charge and hopefully get your money back if the seller is a scammer.

Learn more: How to Dispute a Credit Card Charge

3. Internet Services

Reports related to internet services may cover fraudulent interactions with websites that sell content, online advertisements, online payment services, video games, virtual reality and social networks. The fraud reports can also stem from internet service providers that mislead consumers about the cost, speed or access of their service.

How to Protect Yourself From Internet Service Fraud

Whether you're playing a game or scrolling through social media, be cautious when interacting with other people online. You also want to watch out for online marketplace scams and ads that send you to scam online stores—refer to the tips above for avoiding online shopping scams.

Also, be sure to monitor your monthly subscriptions and internet service costs to make sure you're not getting overcharged or paying for a service you canceled.

4. Business and Job Opportunities

Business and job opportunity frauds might involve fake work-from-home, franchise or entrepreneurial opportunities; multilevel marketing or pyramid schemes; or fake or illegal work. The fraudster might ask you to complete an application, which is actually a ruse to collect your personal information.

Alternatively, you might be asked to pay a fee for applying, getting supplies or using their placement services. Or, the fraudster might send you money, say they accidentally sent too much and ask you to refund part of it. The overpayment scam works because their original payment gets reversed several days later, but you've already sent them money using an irreversible method, such as a gift card.

How to Protect Yourself From Fraudulent Business and Job Opportunities

Look online for complaints about the person or company that posted the job or business opportunity. Never pay to submit an application, send money to someone who promises you a job or send money to someone who claims they've sent you too much.

Also, look out for jobs that require you to deposit and transfer money using your bank account or receive and reship products. You might be participating in a larger fraud scheme and committing a crime.

Learn more: How to Tell if a Job Offer Is a Scam

5. Investment-Related Scams

Investment-related frauds and scams aren't the most common, but they can be the most costly. Median losses were $10,400 per fraud report, according to the FTC, with total losses of more than $7.93 billion in 2025.

Investment-related scams and fraud can happen when you pay for tips, seminars or courses that promise to teach you how to make money—or promise to invest on your behalf. The investments might be in cryptocurrency, stocks, bonds, real estate, gold, art or another asset. They get you to pay for the training or program but don't actually deliver anything of value in return.

Fraudsters can also be much more personal, as many romance scams involve investment-related fraud. The person might spend weeks or months getting to know you before they share an investment tip. However, when you invest in the same cryptocurrency, stock or platform, you're actually sending money to a fraudster.

How to Protect Yourself From Investment-Related Fraud

Never pay for a program or course that promises a guaranteed return—investing always comes with risk.

Also, be wary of anyone who tries to entice you with large investment returns, a secret method, insider tips or promises of passive income. If you're intrigued by an investment, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has a list of tools and sites you can use to investigate the investment and the person promoting it.

Learn more: How to Determine Risk Tolerance for Investing

6. Telephone and Mobile Services

Fraudulent telephone and mobile services can include issues with your phone plan or provider, mobile applications, unauthorized charges and unsolicited messages.

For example, a fraudster might trick you into downloading malware that will subscribe you to new services or send texts and make calls to premium numbers. They also might try to swap or port your number to a new phone or carrier to intercept text messages, including messages with one-time passcodes for logging in to your accounts.

How to Protect Yourself From Fraudulent Telephone and Mobile Services

Only download apps from the official app stores and uninstall apps that you no longer use. You can also periodically scan your device for malware using antivirus software and make sure your apps are updated. Additionally, contact your mobile carrier to see if you can enable SIM-swapping protections that can keep fraudsters from taking over your number. And regularly review your phone bill to make sure the carrier isn't overcharging you.

7. Health Care

The health care fraud category includes misleading and deceptive claims about medical and health-related products and services. These could include scams related to diet products, cures for diseases, prescription drugs, everyday supplements, tests and medical equipment.

How to Protect Yourself From Health Care Scams and Fraud

Many of the fraud reports are related to diet products and programs or medical treatments and cures. If you want to lose weight or are struggling with a health issue, speak with a primary care physician to get recommendations on safe and effective programs and medications.

8. Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries

Scammers might buy online advertisements or contact you directly and say that you've won a prize, sweepstakes or lottery. They could ask for your name, address, Social Security number or other personal information—claiming that they need it to send you the winnings.

Alternatively, they might ask you to send them a payment to cover additional costs, say that you can pay to increase your chances of winning or ask for your bank or credit card account information.

How to Protect Yourself From Prize, Sweepstakes and Lottery Fraud

If you don't remember entering a drawing or lottery, you likely didn't win anything. And although you may have to pay to enter certain types of contests or lotteries, legitimate sweepstakes don't require payment, and paying shouldn't increase your chances of winning.

It may be best to ignore messages about any sort of prizes or winnings, especially if they ask you for personal information or payment.

9. Travel, Vacations and Timeshare Plans

Fraudsters might promise you a free or low-cost vacation package or mislead you into purchasing a timeshare. But you might arrive at the destination to find the accommodations aren't what was promised, or you may have to pay extra fees or taxes to claim your supposedly free deal.

It can also be difficult to get out of a timeshare, even if it's legitimate. If you invest in a new fraudulent development, the project might never get past the fundraising stage.

How to Protect Yourself From Travel, Vacation and Timeshare Plan Fraud

Be careful when purchasing travel or vacation deals from a new service. You can search for its name plus "scam" or "reviews" online to try and learn about other people's experiences. Even if you're using a reputable service, watch out for people who ask you to send them a deposit directly or using an unusual platform.

Tip: Be cautious about robocalls offering travel-related deals or packages, as those might be part of a travel scam.

10. Advance-Fee Credit Scams

Scammers may target people who want to borrow money by offering them a credit card or loan, often with big promises of guaranteed approval even if you have low credit scores. They ask that you pay a fee, such as a "processing fee," in order to apply. In reality, there's no credit card or loan, and they steal your money.

Advance-fee credit card and loan scams may target low-credit borrowers through online ads. Or, they may buy data on borrowers who are searching for low-credit loans and then target these victims directly.

How to Protect Yourself From Advance-Fee Credit Scams

The best way to protect yourself from scams that target borrowers is to deal only with lenders that you know to be legitimate.

Beyond going right to the source whenever you're considering applying for credit, you should also be aware of these credit scam red flags:

• Guaranteed approval with no credit check: Avoid any "lender" who promises you approval with no credit check. Legitimate lenders, such as banks and online loan providers, use your credit history to determine whether to extend credit to you.
• Hidden fees disclosed after you apply: The Truth in Lending Act requires all lenders to clearly disclose fees, interest rates and other loan terms before you sign a loan agreement. If you're hit with surprise fees after you've applied, you're dealing with a scammer.

Tip: There are loans designed for low credit scores, such as payday alternative loans. These come from federal credit unions and use supplemental information, such as proof of income through pay stubs, to help you get approved.

What to Do if You're a Victim of Fraud

If you're the victim of fraud or a scam, you can take several steps to report the criminals and protect yourself.

• Contact the relevant companies. You might have sent the fraudster a payment, shared access to one of your online accounts or had a conversation with the fraudster online. Contact all the relevant companies, such as the credit card issuer, bank, payment app and social media platform. Report what happened so they can try to stop the fraudster from targeting someone else and help secure your accounts.
• Send a report to the FTC. Report the scam or fraud to the FTC on ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you think your personal information was stolen, you can also file an identity theft report on IdentityTheft.gov. In either case, the FTC will share some next steps you can take to protect yourself or recover your identity.
• Improve your account security. Even if you recently created unique passwords for your accounts, you may want to update your passwords again. Also, turn on multifactor authentication (MFA) or use passkeys to add extra security to your online accounts.
• Add a security freeze or fraud alert. You have the right to add security freezes to several types of consumer reports, including credit reports, ChexSystems reports and National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) reports. These freezes limit who can access the reports, which might keep fraudsters from opening new accounts in your name. You also have the right to add fraud alerts to credit reports to warn creditors that you might be the victim of identity theft.

Tip: To freeze and unfreeze your credit reports, you'll need to contact each credit bureau (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) separately. When adding a fraud alert, the credit bureau you contact will contact the other two, and alerts will be placed on all three of your credit files.

Learn more: What You Can Do to Avoid Identity and Credit Fraud

Monitor Your Credit for Fraud

Fraudsters can use your trust and information to commit various types of crimes, including trying to open new credit accounts in your name. You can monitor your Experian credit report for free and get alerted to potentially suspicious activity, such as a new hard inquiry, credit card or loan. A paid premium identity theft protection membership can also monitor additional databases and warn you about other types of fraud, such as fraudulent use of your Social Security number or financial accounts.