Today’s chronically online world seems to breed more scam and spam messages than ever before. While people may be better at recognizing phishy calls, emails and texts, scammers are becoming bolder, choosing to impersonate employers, financial institutions, well-known companies and more. The Federal Trade Commission saw a 25% increase from 2024 to 2025 in reported losses to all types of fraud, totaling around $16 billion.
As more people fall victim to fraud, knowing how to spot common scams and protect your information from fraudsters is a critical step in preventing financial fraud. Here are some tips to recognize and prevent four types of commonly reported scams.
Imposter scams
Imposter scams include people posing as your bank, a business, the government or
even a relative to get you to give them money. According to the FTC, Americans reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, and these scams accounted for nearly one in three fraud reports last year.
- How to spot this scam: Unsolicited emails, phone calls or texts may be from imposters. These messages typically contain some sort of “warning” about a nonexistent problem or issue that requires immediate attention, such as a potentially unauthorized transaction or a locked credit card.
- How to avoid this scam: Don’t click on any links in a message you weren’t expecting. If you are unsure if the threat is real, contact the business or organization that is issuing the alleged warning via their official email address, phone number or website.
Investment scams
Investment scams typically come with get-rich-quick claims, offering to help you make money quickly and easily by allowing you to invest in new money-making opportunities, including cryptocurrency. Most people never get their investment money back, and losses to investment-related scams totaled around $7.9 billion in 2025.
- How to spot this scam: The FTC reports that investment scammers often pique consumers’ interest through infomercials and online and social media advertisements, inviting them to attend free events and seminars, order free materials or watch free videos to learn the secret to success. They make claims about big, guaranteed returns with minimal effort on the front end but offer very little information about what the actual investment is.
- How to avoid this scam: Investments should always be well thought out, so take time to research what you would allegedly be investing in. Never make an investment based solely on what you see online because scammers can easily invent stories and testimonials. Investments always involve some level of risk, so if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Job scams
Job scams are often advertised the same way real companies advertise open positions: on job sites, social media sites like LinkedIn and more. Fraudsters often post a fake job listing with the intention of gaining access to personal information and money, and texts from scammers posing as recruiters are a newer method the FTC has seen in the first half of 2026. Losses to job scams in 2025 totaled nearly $1 billion.
- How to spot this scam: Be wary of jobs with vague descriptions or employers who offer to send you money before you start work. Work-from-home jobs, nanny and assistant jobs, mystery shopping jobs and government jobs are all types of jobs that scammers have used to trick people.
- How to avoid this scam: Verify job listings before completing any applications or offering any personal information. Search the name of the company or the person who reached out to you plus “scam,” “review” or “complaint.” Don’t trust any company or individual who says they’ll send you a check to deposit in return for gift cards or a specific amount of money, and consult someone you trust if you’re suspicious about a job offer.
Social media scams
Social media scams usually involve seeing an advertisement for products or services on a social media platform but not receiving the product or service once an individual has paid for it. According to the FTC, social media scams resulted in $2.1 billion in losses in 2025.
- How to spot this scam: These scams often start with advertisements for inexpensive goods on social media platforms. Some warning signs may include not recognizing the company name or product, the company only having vague information about how to contact them and seeing limited information about delivery, dispute resolution, returns and other policies.
- How to avoid this scam: If you’re unfamiliar with the company or goods, do some research online. Search the company or product name plus “scam” or “complaint” to see if the advertisement is legitimate or fraudulent.
Learning how to recognize these scams can help you spot others by knowing the telltale signs of fraud. Take time to research and think through the situation before acting to help you avoid falling victim to financial fraud. Scammers typically want access to your financial or personal information, so make sure your bank accounts and any accounts with personal details are secured.
Contact your bank or credit card company immediately if you experience financial fraud so they can help recover stolen funds and secure your accounts. You may also want to report instances of fraud to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Mindy Thompson is a branch administrator for Arvest Bank – Springfield Region. She can be reached at mthompson2@arvest.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Protect your money from these 4 common scams
