By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

A new federal report shows scams cost Iowans more than $50-million dollars last year.

The Federal Trade Commission says it got nearly 14,000 fraud reports from Iowa consumers during 2024.

The median loss was around $400, while the total lost was nearly $52-million.

The FTC says the top categories of scams reported by Iowans were business and government imposter scams, online shopping scams, and scams involving prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries.

While the category of Iowa victims age 80 and older was one of the smallest, it was the largest for losses, averaging about $2,000 each.

Phony investment schemes took Iowans for nearly $20-million , while the second-most expensive were romance scams, costing nearly $8-million.

Iowans can report fraud, scams, or bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, or call the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office at 888-777-4590.