correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly said Americans lost nearly $8.8 million to scams in 2022. The figure is $8.8 billion. The article has been corrected.
What’s worse than falling victim to a scam online? Being scammed again while dealing with the original crime.
There’s a booming industry of criminals who target people at their worst moments, squeezing more money or information out of them in exchange for false hope. They’ll promise to get you back into a hacked Facebook account or reclaim money you lost to some other third party. They’re often lurking in legitimate-looking search results or your social media replies.
