A Joint Effort to Protect Consumers from Scams
West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey is announcing Thursday, March 5, 2026, is National Slam the Scam Day. Federal, state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and private companies are joining forces to help protect consumers from scams.
The Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to scams in 2024- a 25% increase from 2023. Consumers lost more than $5.7 billion to investment scams and almost $2.95 billion to imposter scams.
For the year 2026 to date, 460 scams have been reported to the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office Consumer Protection Division. As of March 4, the top scams reported are robocalls, Medicare/healthcare, sweepstakes/lottery, loans and Social Security scams.
Scam trends seen so far in 2026 include:
- Sim Swapping and Porting: Scammers target mobile numbers to intercept 2-step authentication codes, allowing them to drain financial accounts. Scammers steal personal identifiable information then impersonate victims to port numbers to new cell providers or transfer SIM control to new devices, bypassing weak security.
- “Pig Butchering”: This is a newer, sophisticated long-term scam that combines romance/friendship/social engineering with investment fraud and usually involves cryptocurrency. Scammers will “fatten up” victims by building fake long-term romantic relationships or friendships before “slaughtering” their victims’ finances by eventually luring them onto fake cryptocurrency investments platforms.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Voice Cloning & Deepfakes: Scammers use AI to mimic the voices of loved ones, friends, executives or those known to the victim. Their goal is to obtain money in whatever means necessary. For example, the victim’s son has been in a car crash and is now in jail (help me/grandparent scam) or posing as a senior executive at the victim’s workplace and manipulates staff into providing account information or transferring funds.
“It’s especially important for consumers to be cautious when they receive an unexpected call, text or email. Even if it seems to be legitimate, I encourage consumers to be incredibly diligent and check to make sure it is not a scam. Never share your personal or financial information. If you have a question about an unsolicited call, text or email, call our office and we can help,” Attorney General McCuskey said.
Over the years, scams have evolved in scale and sophistication. Everyone is vulnerable. Scammers target individuals, businesses, and even government agencies to attempt to steal money or personal information. Fraudsters state there’s some sort of problem or offer an incentive, and pressure you to act quickly. Most alarming, scammers tell you to pay using currency that is hard to trace, such as cryptocurrency, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, wire transfers, cash, or even gold bars. They might even say they are helping to keep your money safe or keep you out of jail.
Follow #SlamTheScam posts on social media and share them with your loved ones and your community. Stay skeptical about unexpected contact from businesses or organizations. Hang up or delete suspicious messages. Do not click on links. Add two-factor authentication to protect your email, banking and social media accounts. Report scams to the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office at ago.wv.gov or 800-368-8808 or the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Regional Consumer Advocates with the Attorney General’s Office are available to speak with your organization about these or other scams.
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