Californians Lose More Money To Phishing Scams Than Almost Any Other State

CALIFORNIA — Californians lost more money to phishing scams per 100,000 residents than Americans in almost any other state in 2022, according to a recent analysis.

Cryptocurrency publication CoinJournal used the latest available data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center to identify the states with the highest monetary phishing losses per 100,000 people.

The Golden State came in third, with 2,041 victims being scammed out of more than $14.6 million, which translates to $37,470 lost per 100,000 residents, according to CoinJournal.

Arkansas was first on the list, with a loss rate per 100,000 people of $79,778, and New Hampshire was second with a rate of $47,138. Nevada came in fourth and had a rate of $37,084.

CoinJournal recommends people consider the following tips to protect themselves from phishing:

• Be skeptical of unexpected emails, texts or phone calls, especially if they include unsolicited requests for personal information.
• Check urls by hovering the cursor over links before clicking on them in order to confirm a phishing scam is not mimicking a legitimate website by using a similar address with slight variations.
• Use multi-factor authentication.
• Report phishing attempts to authorities, such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center run by the FBI.