Price County Earns Dubious Distinction

In 2025, the Wisconsin BBB Scam Tracker showed Price, Burnett, and Wood counties with the most reports from consumers in all 72 counties in the state, and Dodge, St. Croix, and Rock counties with the highest losses. Reports surged 74% from 2024 to 2026, especially for tax and U.S. Passport/Visa scams. Top scams included Online/Counterfeit Purchase-the most frequent, Phishing-second most perpetrated, and Employment with over $1,170 median loss per event, often featuring fake sites, urgent messages, or “too good to be true” remote jobs. DMV, PayPal, and Amazon were the most impersonated. Other prevalent scams were Debt Collection, Advance Fee Loan, Government Agency Impostor, Credit Cards, Tax Collection, Healthcare, and Sweepstakes. AI is increasing the quality of online purchase, phishing, and employment scams with better text, fake visuals, automation, and AI voices. BBB Wisconsin urges consumers to report all scams at bbb.org/wisconsin.