As a regulatory agency, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions knows all too well how quickly people can be defrauded out of their hard‑earned dollars. We see it in the consumer complaints pursued by our enforcement and investigations units.

When the FTC issued their data earlier this year indicating $10 billion was lost in America to fraud in 2023, it reinforced the concern we have about consumers not knowing how to identify, prevent and report financial fraud and scams to DFI and other regulatory agencies. In response, DFI embarked on the process of launching a statewide advertising endeavor we’ve dubbed the “$10 Billion Reasons” campaign.

We worked with a marketing firm to develop a single tagline — “$10,000,000,000 lost to fraud in 2023” — with the call to action, “Identify. Prevent. Report,” and a single landing page, www.dfi.wa.gov/10B, that was easy to remember and easy to get to. Each of the pages tied to the three action items that provide easy-to-understand, easy-to-do, and easy‑to‑access information and complaint forms. In fact, we are using this campaign to launch a new, shorter, more user-friendly single point-of-entry complaint form for consumers to get more people to file complaints when they have problems.

What we know from data from the U.S. Justice Department is that only about 15% of consumers who fall prey to scammers report the crime. That means the $10 billion lost is significantly more.

Utilizing a variety of media, including billboards, movie theater screen ads, radio, streaming, social media, print media, online news sites and more — we are hoping to drive home the message that fraud is expensive and help consumers learn how to identify, prevent and report it to DFI. The campaign is designed to reach multiple demographics: millennials, Gen X, boomers, Spanish speakers and Asian communities.

All advertisements will drive viewers/listeners to a landing page on DFI’s website — www.dfi.wa.gov/10B. This landing page will lead viewers to detailed information about the statistics related to financial fraud — including what scams target which demographics most often, how to identify fraud, how to prevent fraud and how to report it. The web pages also will have details on a variety of emerging fraud forms — including pig butchering, romance scams, crypto scams, investment scams and more.

DFI is providing a single entry point short complaint form linked on this landing page, making it easy for consumers to file a complaint with DFI. If the complaint is not within our authority to investigate, we will share the complaint with the appropriate agency/entity.

We are hopeful and anticipate analytics will indicate far‑reaching and robust efficacy, which will be borne out by an increase in complaints filed and visits to the pages.