And the No. 1 scam in 2019 was …

According to the Federal Trade Commission, 3.2 million people reported being scammed in 2019.

That seems to suggest that crime is paying off — at least for the crooks.

The No. 1 fraud reported was the imposter scam where con artists pretend to be calling from the government or a well-known business, a romantic interest or a family member with an emergency. People reported losing more than $667 million to imposters, with victims reporting that they most frequently paid the scammers with gift cards.

Social Security imposters were the most reported government imposter scam with 166,190 victims filing reports with a median individual loss of $1,500. That’s about $250 million total.

Phone calls were the most common way scammers contacted their victims. More people are starting to ignore these calls or hang up on callers. Even so, the median loss was $1,000 in 2019.

Some wonder why they should bother to report the losses since there seems to be little that can be done. The FTC says the reports enable them to investigate scams and other dishonest business practices. As a result, some of these crime rings have been closed down.

If you think you’ve been scammed, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov/complaint

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THE AMAZON BAN: If you’re a picky shopper who likes to shop on Amazon, you’d better be careful. If you make too many returns, your account could get shut down.

Some customers whose accounts have been closed think the company has handled their situations unfairly. Part of the problem with Amazon’s return policy is it doesn’t define how many returns are too many. Some customer accounts have been shut down without warning.

Amazon does state in its conditions of use that it reserves the right to terminate accounts at its sole discretion. Some customers have had to repeatedly contact Amazon to find out why their accounts were closed. This has only added to the confusion over Amazon’s return policy, particularly when it touts itself as a customer-friendly retailer. Many consumers use Amazon because it’s convenient and because of the ability to easily return purchases for any number of reasons.

“We want everyone to be able to use Amazon, but there are rare occasions where someone abuses our service over an extended period of time,” Amazon states. “And with over 300 million customers around the world, we take action when appropriate to protect the experience of all our customers.”

It’s not just Amazon that’s struggling to manage billions of dollars in losses due to scams and customer abuse of returns. Big box retail companies have gone so far as to hire companies that track customers’ return behavior to minimize their losses.

Bottom line: Make sure you want to make your purchase and don’t rely on Amazon’s easy return policy as permission to be picky because clearly, returning too many items has its consequences.

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AMAZON PRIME NOTICES: A Rathdrum reader warned us that she had received an email that appeared to be from Amazon. The notice said that her Prime subscription was due for renewal and that her bank information had expired and needed to be updated.

When she clicked on the link it appeared to take her to the Amazon login screen. Just to be cautious, she decided to open a new window and log into her Amazon account independently.

Once in the account, she looked for her renewal date — which wasn’t for three months. Also, her bank information wasn’t about to expire, so she contacted Amazon to let it know about the notice she’d received. The Amazon customer service rep said they would investigate.

If you receive one of these notices, rather than click on the link, log into your Amazon account directly and check the status of your account.

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IDENTITY THEFT CENTRAL: With tax season here, the IRS announced this week that it launched Identity Theft Central. This resource is designed to improve online access to information on identity theft and data security protection for taxpayers, tax professionals and businesses.

You can check it out at www.irs.gov/identitytheft. Resources on the site tell you how to report identity theft and how to protect yourself from scams and what to do if you’re victimized.

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Remember: I’m on your side.

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If you have encountered a consumer issue that you have questions about or think our readers should know about, please send me an email at [email protected] or call me at 208-274-4458. As The CDA Press Consumer Gal, I’m here to help. I’m a full-time copywriter working with businesses on marketing strategy, a columnist and a consumer advocate living in Coeur d’Alene.