How often do online scams happen?

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Cyber Monday is in full swing, and we’ve been showing you how to spot a scam and what happens if you fall for one , but how often is this actually happening?

There are a lot of different categories when it comes to scams ranging from fraud to identity theft. Here in Ohio, thousands fall victim to all sorts of scams.

So far in 2023, more than 28,000 people have been a victim of identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission reports that of those, more than 12,000 people had government documents or benefits compromised.

Fraud reports are even higher. In 2023, there have been more than 42,500 reports in Ohio.

Imposter scams top that list by a landslide. Now the Better Business Bureau is warning of another type of fraud targeting central Ohioans, vishing, a scam that comes in the form of a phone call.

“These people can sound very legitimate,” BBB Central Ohio Director of Customer Relations/Investigations Lee Anne Lanigan said. “They can sound very real. They will know so much about you that you feel like you’re talking to the real company that you are familiar with.”

This scam is called vishing and it’s a phone call or voice mail where someone is pretending to be a reputable company such as a bank. The goal, like with most scams, is to get personal information out of you.

One central Ohio woman got a call like this and is trying to spread the word about how convincing these scammers can be.

Plain City resident Leslie Perkins got a phone call from a man saying he was with her bank. He had the last four digits of her social security number and the last few digits of her credit cards.

“I just was so mad because it was so believable,” Perkins said.

He said someone was trying to open another card in her name in a different state and he was going to help her secure her accounts. He then asked for the first three digits of her social security number, which is when she got suspicious.

“I went, ‘I just don’t feel comfortable with this’” Perkins said. “I said, ‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ and I hung up. And I sat there in the chair and said, you know what my gut says call Discover, and I did and it was not Discover that called and I called Experian and it was not Experian that called. But I just was so mad because it was so believable.”

Perkins finally ended the call after getting suspicious and contacted her bank, who confirmed they weren’t the ones calling. The scammers called back but she was ready.

“This time it was a woman from Bank of America and it was the same scripted spew and she said, ‘Somebody from North Carolina is trying to open up a card in your name.’”

The Better Business Bureau said scammers get this personal information through data leaks such as when stores or even hospitals are hacked.

“Now you’ve lost your name, your address, your social security number because all the doctors and hospitals want that now,” Lanigan said. “You’ve lost all your medical records. Now these people know everything there is to know about you.”

Perkins said she’s glad she trusted her gut but it was a close call and now she just wants to make sure others know to be on the lookout.

“I mean, if it helps one person, it’s so worth it,” Perkins said.

The BBB said some red flags to look for include threatening language, refusing to let you hang up, bad grammar, or getting a call from a bank that you don’t use. They recommend hanging up and calling your bank yourself.

More information on avoiding scams and what to do if you are scammed can be found here .