NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Can you guess what scams Tennesseans fell for most often in 2023?

The Federal Trade Commission has released its report on the top scams in 2023. Last year, Americans lost $10 billion to scams — $1 billion more than in 2022.

“One in four people reported losing money to scams, with a median loss of $500 per person,” the FTC said. “Email was the #1 contact method for scammers this year, especially when scammers pretended to be a business or government agency to steal money.”

Below are the FTC’s key takeaways:

• Imposter scams. Imposter scams remained the top fraud category, with reported losses of $2.7 billion. These scams include people pretending to be your bank’s fraud department, the government, a relative in distress, a well-known business, or a technical support expert.
• Investment scams. While investment-related scams were the fourth most reported fraud category, losses in this category grew. People reported median losses of $7,700 — up from $5,000 in 2022.
• Social media scams. Scams starting on social media accounted for the highest total losses at $1.4 billion – an increase of 250 million from 2022. But scams that started with a phone call caused the highest per-person loss ($1,480 average loss).
• Payment methods. How did scammers prefer that people pay? With bank transfers and payments, which accounted for the highest losses ($1.86 billion). Cryptocurrency is a close second ($1.41 billion reported in losses).
• Losses by age. Of people who reported their age, younger adults aged 20 to 29 reported losing money more often than older adults (70+). However, when older adults lost money, they lost the most.

Identity theft and imposter scams gave Tennesseans the most trouble last year, according to the FTC. The Volunteer State was ranked 16th among U.S. states for fraud and other reports.