Utah fraud losses hit $114 million as phone scams surge

SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns are losing millions to phone scams every year, and members of the Utah Fraud Prevention Coalition say it's only getting worse.

Sharlene Wells, a chair with the Coalition, says losses have gone up in recent years. "Since 2020, Utah fraud losses have continued to rise almost like 20 to 30 million per year," Wells said. "2024 was our highest so far, about $114 million in fraud losses. Again, it continued to rise."

Rob Woellhaf, who's a principal consultant for Sentinel Fraud Consulting in Highland, helps small businesses and credit unions protect themselves from fraud. He says the common types of scams he's seeing are imposter scams.

That's when someone contacts you, pretending to be someone else.

"The consumer needs to take some kind of action and usually that inv