Fraud is no longer something that happens somewhere else. It is happening here, in our small towns, in our communities, and to people we know.
Last year alone, Americans reported losing more than $16.6 billion to fraud, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Nearly 860,000 internet crime complaints were filed nationwide, and the Federal Trade Commission received more than 2.6 million fraud reports.
Behind those numbers are real people. Seniors who have worked a lifetime to build financial security. Families trying to make ends meet. Neighbors who never imagined they would fall victim to a scam. Even our young people are being targeted, often caught off guard as they learn how to manage money in an increasingly digital world.
As a credit union serving rural Kansas, we see firsthand how sophisticated these scams have become. Scammers send convincing text messages about…
These frauds exploit emotional vulnerability and trust rather than technical weaknesses.
- Romance Scams: Scammers build long-term online relationships with victims, eventually fabricating a “crisis” (medical emergency, legal trouble, or travel costs) that requires the victim to send money.
- Pig Butchering: A hybrid scam where the criminal builds a romantic or platonic relationship to eventually “tutor” the victim in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment.