Unmasking the Scammers: Most Common Scams in 2024

When 29-year-old Cecilie Fjellhøy met Simon Leviev in 2018, it was like something out of your favorite romcom. It started with a coffee date at the luxurious Four Seasons Park Lane in London. Soon he was inviting her on a business trip to Bulgaria and sending a Rolls Royce to ferry her to the airport, where they were whisked away by a private jet. But what began as a fairytale ended in a nightmare. A few months later, she ended up not only heartbroken but with a bill of $250,000 after her Prince Charming had convinced her that he needed the cash to get out of trouble. Leviev, it turns out, was the man who became known as the Tinder Swindler, and had duped about a dozen other victims, as recounted in a Netflix documentary featuring Cecilie and other victims.

That documentary aired two years ago but it seems romance is still getting a lot of people into trouble. To be more exact, in 2024, there have been 2,009 reports of romantics who have been conned by some kind of phone scam, according to ReversePhone’s latest VOIP Phone Scam data study. In fact, romance tops the list of five major scams we report on below. Alarmingly, many of the stories are similar to Cecilie’s.

“Romance scams are particularly insidious because they exploit people’s emotions,” Tracy Kitten, the director of fraud and security at Javelin Strategy & Research, told CNBC earlier this year. “These situations are real; they aren’t just plots from Netflix shows.”

Top 5 scam types to watch out for

Romance scams have hovered around the top five list of scams in the phone scam studies since 2020, peaking at 4,593 complaints in 2022 and bringing in 2,099 complaints this year. But it’s not only hopeless romantics who fall prey to con artists.

Bad for business

After romance, business scams are the most reported. The study recorded 1,963 complaints about business imposter scams in 2024, down from 2,476 in 2023. A business imposter scam often begins with a phone call, email, or text message that appears to come from a familiar and trustworthy company, like a well-known retailer. It looks and sounds legitimate, complete with convincing logos and website links.

Best Buy (and its affiliated Geek Squad) and Amazon were the two most impersonated companies in 2023, an FTC report found. Amazon was impersonated three times more than the next highest volume company, PayPal.

One customer report reads “Claimed to be verifying a $1499 purchase on my Amazon acct. Wanted me to press a number to speak to customer support if I did not authorize. There was no such purchase. I believe this is a SCAM.”

Bank scams

The study found 1,370 bank-related scams in 2024, down from 2,708 last year. Bank of America warns clients about the latest trends in scams. These include misleading instructions that pressure you to share information like a code, take actions such as granting remote access, transferring money to another account or digital wallet, disregarding warning messages, or entering codes like *72 or **21 on your phone. Other suspicious messages refer to investment schemes with a quick return; tech support that requires remote access to remove a virus from your device, and a seemingly irresistible offer, such as hard-to-get tickets.

One user reported, “This number phoned me on June 7 2024 claiming to be from Capital One bank to verify the details of my business credit card application. Once I provided all the details, they proceeded to take over my phone for security verification codes from banks. They then logged into my bank and did a wire transfer of 20k from one of the accounts.”

Debt collection scams

In debt collection scams, fraudsters masquerade as collectors, often using intimidation—such as threats of legal action or wage garnishment—to coerce victims into paying non-existent debts. Scammers leverage limited personal information, including names and addresses, with aggressive tactics demanding immediate payment. There were 1,148 such cases this year, the VOIP data shows, down from 1,221 last year.

One complaint reported, “Said my student loan would be forgiven. I just need to click on a link. I don’t have a student loan!!”

Credit card scams

As cash transactions decline, the use of credit cards—especially for online purchases—continues to appear. With this increase in credit card usage comes a corresponding rise in credit card scams, with 942 cases reported this year. Criminals will use all sorts of tricks to convince you to hand over sensitive information, such as an email, text, or call stating that your credit card has been overcharged for a product or service; claiming they can reduce your credit card interest rate and save you thousands of dollars; bogus calls from a federal agency to get you to use a credit card to “pay off” debt, fines, tickets or taxes.

One victim of an attempted credit card scam said, “This person said they were from my credit card company and there was a charge that was attempted on my card. They declined the charge but said they needed the exp. date on my Amex card. I told them I didn’t have an Amex card. She said it was on my Discover card and Amex. I replied I didn’t have either of those cards. She said she would send me over to her manager and then hung up the phone. Obviously they are trying to get your card information.”

Common scam numbers and area codes

Our data-rich study has identified a range of specific phone numbers and area codes frequently used by scammers. Scammers often employ a technique known as “number spoofing,” which involves altering the caller ID information to display a number with a familiar or trusted area code. This deception increases the likelihood of recipients answering the call, as people are more inclined to trust and engage with local or recognizable numbers, which is why it is best not to answer an unknown number.

Many scammers prefer using area codes from densely populated states, such as California (213, 310) or New York (212, 646), to project authenticity and trust. This method not only grants scammers an air of legitimacy but also circumvents the initial skepticism typically associated with unknown or distant area codes. Scammers also use numbers resembling those of legitimate businesses, intending to mislead recipients into believing they are interacting with trusted entities.

For their nefarious purposes, the five most popular area codes in 2024 were: 720 (north-central Colorado); 272 (northeastern Pennsylvania); 959 (Hartford, Connecticut); 829 (Dominican Republic); 346 (Houston metropolitan area).

Most common scam numbers

We dug through the reports to identify the most common numbers appearing repeatedly in alleged scams. Here are the ones to watch out for:

The three numbers at the top of the list have about 200 reports each, so it would be best to block them immediately even if you haven’t been contacted by them yet.

Characteristics of common scam numbers

Mimicking legitimate numbers: Many scam numbers mimic legitimate numbers from financial, educational, and government institutions to appear trustworthy.

Using local area codes: Several scammers use numbers with the local area code to increase the likelihood of people taking the call or answering the message.

High call volume: Scam numbers are often associated with a high volume of calls, especially around peak times such as holidays or tax season, when related scams like “free money” or “urgent bank notifications” are more common.

Top phone carriers for scammers

The VOIP study reveals that scammers frequently exploit smaller phone carriers, which might offer less robust security measures compared to larger companies. These carriers present attractive opportunities for fraudsters to operate with minimal detection due to:

Fast setup: Typically, carriers that offer quick activation processes, especially for prepaid plans, can seem attractive to scammers. The less information they need to provide, the better.

Less monitoring: Some carriers may have a reputation for being less proactive in monitoring suspicious activity, making them more appealing to scammers looking to operate undetected.

Technical capabilities: Certain carriers may offer advanced features that can be exploited, such as call forwarding or spoofing capabilities, which scammers can use to manipulate and fool people.

VoIP: Scammers may opt for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, which can provide them with multiple phone numbers and easier call manipulation.

Our study shows that in 2024 the five most popular phone carriers among scammers were:

AT&T is the only popular name appearing at the top. Other established names like Verizon, T-Mobile, and Google appear in the bottom half of the list, possibly due to their strong measures toward preventing scams.

How to protect yourself from phone scams

Most categories of scams are trending downward, based on our data. But it seems the scale of fraud is heading in the opposite direction. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumers lost a record $10 billion to fraud in 2023, marking a 14% increase from 2022. This could be because certain groups, particularly older people, are unfamiliar with modern technology, and therefore remain highly susceptible to scams. Taking advantage of recent natural disasters, such as hurricanes, criminals have also targeted compassionate individuals eager to assist those affected.

Based on these anecdotes, it’s clear that fraudsters are continuously adapting their strategies and making use of sophisticated technology like AI to target vulnerable people.

Quick tips to protect yourself against scam calls

With the growing prevalence of scam calls, it’s important to take proactive measures to safeguard yourself. Here are some suggestions to help you get started.

To stay alert to these trends, consult the Federal Trade Commission’s extensive resources that deal with how to recognize government impersonation scams and actionable advice on blocking unwanted calls and managing robocalls.

Alongside these public resources, communication tools like ReversePhone could help you identify unknown callers and verify the legitimacy of unfamiliar numbers, offering a valuable layer of defense against potential scams. By regularly updating your knowledge of fraud schemes, and employing these protective measures, you can drastically reduce the risk of falling victim to phone scams.

Methodology

ReversePhone gathered data from customer comments in 2024. User comments are from call complaints logged on reverse phone lookup tools owned and operated by ReversePhone and BeenVerified. Some user comments in the study were lightly edited for clarity.

For more information or press inquiries, please contact [email protected].

About ReversePhone

ReversePhone.com’s goal is to empower users to try and take greater control of their phone calls and those parts of their lives dedicated to such communication. Don’t fall prey to scammers and spammers, and take steps to increase your peace of mind by better examining who may be calling you at any given time.