Consumers reported losing a record-breaking $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021 for a 70 percent year-over-year increase, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a new report.

The losses stemmed from a variety of schemes. The largest number hinged on impostors: crooks who stole money from people by posing as romantic interests, government employees, relatives in distress, tech-support experts or others, such as representatives of businesses or charities.

There were almost 1 million impostor scams among the nearly 2.8 million frauds reported in 2021 to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network.

Courtney Anclam, Senior Program Specialist with AARP Wisconsin, joins Pam Jahnke to talk through some things to watch out for, and also provides resources anyone can access to educate and protect yourself.