$52.5M scammed from Kentucky residents in 2023. Here are the best ways to protect your money

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Federal Trade Commission received 21,386 reports of fraud in Kentucky last year. That equals nearly $52.5 million.

Nick Curcio received a letter in the mail claiming to be from the IRS.

"When I looked at it at first and I saw IRS in the corner, I'm like, I always get that feeling you know that your heart's gonna stop," Curcio said. "Then, as soon as I started to read it, I'm like, this is just garbage."

It asked for personal information, including his social security number to update their records.

"They wanted to verify my information to make sure that they had everything for accuracy purposes and to speed things up," Curcio said.

It then asked for him to send the information in a text to the IRS.

He knew immediately that it was a scam.

He wanted to share it with WDRB News "to make sure other people that may not be as vigilant don't fall prey to some kind of scam like this."

But thousands of Kentuckians weren't so lucky.

The Federal Trade Commission got more than 21,000 reports of fraud in the Commonwealth last year. It equals a loss of nearly $52.5 million dollars.

"There's so many people that work so hard for their money and a poor economy and the last thing anybody needs is to give up their information and fall prey to identity theft or losing money or anything to that effect," Curcio said.

It's not just in Kentucky. Losses are up across the country.

The FTC reports Americans lost more than $10 billion to fraud last year. That's up from $8.8 billion in 2022.

Although Curcio received something via snail mail, the FTC says email was the top way scammers got in touch with people.

The FTC said scammers usually pretend to be from an organization you know.

The scammers say there's a problem or a prize, and they pressure you to act immediately. They also ask for payment in a specific way, like gift cards or wiring money.

Organizations advise to give them a call to verify the information, and if it seems too good to be true it probably is.