By Macy Byars, Nebraska Public Media
Peter Hines spent $936 a few years ago on Facebook ad leads for his insurance business in Fremont.
He said the company charged his credit card at 3 a.m., and the leads were bad quality.
That’s the moment Hines, 76, knew he was scammed.
Since the company was in California, there was nothing the Nebraska Attorney General’s office could do. Hines filed a lawsuit but realized an agreement he signed protected the scammers from legal action.
“I did everything I could to get my money back, but I couldn’t,” Hines said.
Lt. Monty Lovelace directs The Technical Crimes Unit at the Nebraska State Patrol. He said Hines’ story isn’t unusual.
“In a lot of cases, the bad actor is overseas, and if money is exchanged with individuals overseas – or cryptocurrency overseas, anything like that – the likelihood of recovering anything is very, very low,” he said.
Hines said he’s lucky he didn’t lose more.
“You know, I was duped, but then I thought, I’m going to help others,” Hines said.
Hines wrote reviews about the scam and made reports.
“Actually it was kind of a blessing in disguise, because I learned that – hey, do your research, do your reviews before signing up, do your due diligence, and that’ll really help you in the long run with making an affirmed decision,” Hines said.
Scammers innovate with AI
Since 2020, the dollar amount Americans have lost to scams has been rising every year, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel data. In 2024, fraud cost Nebraskans a reported $42.5 million—a number that’s tripled over the last four years.
Those who track scams, like Josh Planos, vice president of marketing and communications for the Better Business Bureau, cite evolving artificial intelligence technology as a reason for the increase in scam activity.
“Half a century ago, you would need to be in the same room as somebody to scam them effectively,” Planos said. “And now you can touch people half a world away – and you can do it at scale.”
As artificial intelligence technology gets cheaper and more accessible, the barrier of entry to create a scam gets lower. Planos said chatbots can design an effective scam in a matter of seconds.
“There’s all sorts of technology that makes those scams a lot more sophisticated and a lot more convincing than we might realize,” Planos said. “The small things do compound and are presented in a way that is sophisticated and refined and largely backed by an enormous amount of resources.”
While scam tactics target trust and human emotion, Planos said AI can make scams more realistic.
“The idea of voice cloning technology, that hasn’t been around for too long, and yet that’s something that is very, very effective at getting people to invest in cryptocurrency or buy a product from a supplier that you’ve never heard of before,” Planos said.
Planos works across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Missouri.
“At least in the Midwest, there is a particular assumption that the person on the other end of the line, has your best intentions in mind,” Planos said. “The benefit of the doubt is freely given in the Midwest and culturally.”
While Planos said he loves this cultural quirk of Midwesterners, it makes scam education, data privacy and password hygiene even more important for businesses.
“It’s almost shrugged off as maybe less consequential than say, something more immediate,” Planos said. “But it really is essential now for all of your staff to know a few things about scam prevention.”
The State Patrol’s Lovelace recommends people a limited online presence. That way, AI doesn’t have references to duplicate voice or face, and scammers can’t weaponize specific details.
“The less that a person puts out there online, the less likelihood that they’re going to be victimized,” Lovelace said.
Reports to local law enforcement rise
Chief Deputy Ben Houchin from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) said scams have come up more frequently over the last year and a half. He said he deals with more reports now, especially from seniors like Hines.
“A majority of the times, it’s older individuals, and they get them scared and they get them confused,” Houchin said. “But let’s be honest, a lot of young folk don’t have a lot of money. It’s the older ones that have the money that’s going to be able to make the scam worthwhile.”
Houchin said he thinks there are many more scam victims than what’s actually reported.
“I think sometimes people are plain embarrassed of what happened to them, and they realize that that money is not going to be able to come back,” Houchin said.
Even the LCSO got caught in the fray. Scammers were impersonating its staff and calling the county’s residents — telling them they had a warrant for their arrest and asking for money. Houchin said there weren’t very many people who lost money, but it caused public confusion.
“It sure hurt our operations, because the phone’s ringing that much more, and we’re not being able to take care of legit business,” Houchin said. “And it is legit for them to be concerned, but the scammers are causing that issue.”
Local law enforcement, state agencies and news outlets have sounded the alarm about extensive scam operations many times this year.
In June, multiple Nebraska agencies — including the LCSO — issued warnings about a text message scam impersonating the Department of Motor Vehicles. In this phishing scheme, scammers pretend the DMV needs an unpaid traffic fine, urging people to pay quickly before their license is suspended.
One month later, Broken Bow Public Schools reported it lost $1.8 million through a phishing email scam. The school district believed it was in contact with a construction contractor working on its high school expansion project when it sent a large payment. Around $700,000 has been recovered.
On Aug. 8, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office announced 300 businesses would receive refunds following a misleading mailer scam. The mailers looked like official letters from the state and asked Nebraska businesses to file their biennial reports. Filing directly with the state costs $25, but the company charged an extra $100.
These are imposter scams—where bad actors impersonate trusted figures like government agencies, family, friends or coworkers. In 2024, 43% of fraud reports to the FTC were imposter scams, costing Americans about $3 billion. Over the last five years, Nebraskans have consistently reported imposter scams more than any other type of fraud.
“Impersonation is really effective because there is a psychology at play where if you’re willing to accept the reality of what’s been presented to you, you are going to act accordingly,” Planos said.
Education and caution protect consumers
Lovelace and Houchin recommend checking official sources for accurate phone numbers and email addresses. Doing business in person can reduce the risk of exploitation. They said law enforcement will never call asking for money to avoid arrest. A majority of credible institutions will never ask for prepaid cards or cryptocurrency as a payment method.
For scams that promise things like great jobs or high returns on investments, Houchin has a simple rule to live by:
“If it sounds like it’s way too good to be true, it is,” Houchin said.
Planos said strides in education and legislation can stop people from being victimized. He added that a bill passed in the Nebraska legislature earlier this year regulating cryptocurrency ATMs was a good step forward.
The legislation requires placards on the ATMs that describe common scam activities and can help people obtain refunds. Planos added laws protecting electronic payments limit consumer liability when funds are transferred by mistake or through coercion, which he says are positives for scam prevention.
“But rarely does the protection come soon enough, and I feel like we’re all kind of reconciling with that right now,” Planos said.
Planos estimated submitting a report to the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker takes fewer than three minutes and can be anonymous.
Reports can help people know what to avoid and allow authorities to warn consumers of widespread scams. Reports to local, regional and national organizations are collected for the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel, which tracks scams across the country.
Where to report fraud:
- Local law enforcement
- Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker
- Nebraska State Patrol Information Analysis Center
- Nebraska Attorney General’s Office
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center
- Federal Trade Commission
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