4.5 mln Americans annually become victims of advance fee scam

According to FTC, nearly 4.5 million people each year fall for advance fee scam - a scam where poor-credit individuals are offered rock-bottom interest rates on credit cards with annual fee charged in advance by scammers. Phonebusters, a cooperative effort between US and Canadian law enforcement agencies, estimates phone fraud to be a $1 billion a year business now. The FBI estimates that US citizens send $100 million each year to Canadian con artists.