Study Finds That Catfishing is a $200M Problem Affecting Thousands of Americans Yearly

February 5, 2019 — BestVPN.org has just published a study that analyzes, state by state, how many victims fall prey to catfishing and how much money they’re losing to these false online identities in the process. With Valentine’s Day coming up, BestVPN.org has compiled this report to shine a light on the crimes that are taking place across the country, and to remind everyone who is building virtual relationships to be careful.

North Carolina had the sixth-highest victim count in the country.

North Carolina, for example, had the sixth-highest victim count in the country, which is significant considering its catfishing victims lost millions of dollars in just one year. However, to get the clearest picture of the harm that catfishing is currently causing, you have to take all of the data points in this study into consideration: cost, victims, and population-adjusted numbers.

To see how your state fared across all categories – as well as other states across the country – click through to our latest study here: https://bestvpn.org/catfishing-statistics/

Catfishing is a particularly cruel and costly crime, one in which a person takes on a false online identity to lure their victims into trusting them, only to later defraud them emotionally and financially. Our study shows that while some states are certainly more victim-prone, others are more likely to involve substantial financial loss (i.e., millions of dollars, in many cases).

The information in this report was obtained from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which releases an annual report detailing online crimes and the financial damages these crimes cause. It is important to note that while the FBI has included Puerto Rico and outlying islands in their total numbers, BestVPN.org has omitted these areas from the analysis. Furthermore, the population-adjusted numbers were achieved by combining the data provided by the FBI with that of the adult population in the U.S. Census, ultimately resulting in the number of catfishing victims per capita.

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About BestVPN.org

BestVPN.org is a comprehensive collection of online security and VPN resources built on years of personal experience and research. By creating informative online privacy guides, VPN reviews, and data security content for corporations, educational institutions, bloggers, and the everyday internet user, BestVPN.org’s nomadic founder hopes to make the digital landscape of tomorrow a safer place for everyone. Learn more at BestVPN.org.