Utah lost $23.9 million to scams five years ago. Last year, the total amount was $108 million. Just barely halfway into 2026, the amount currently sits at $59.8 million.
As artificial intelligence advances, scammers are becoming increasingly skilled at executing fraud, targeting people of all ages.
“The more people are aware of something like this, the more they understand what’s going on, and the more their guard is up,” Utah Attorney General Derek Brown told the Deseret News. “Victims of financial crimes have less to do with age and more to do with the level of vulnerability, he explained.
On the steps of the Utah Capitol, Brown and members of the state’s Utah Fraud Prevention Coalition announced the launch of Utah’s Financial Crimes Intelligence Center.
The statewide hub aims to bridge the communication gap between law enforcement, financial institutions and victims, enabling accountability for criminals and providing reparations to those who fall prey to scams.
“No one is too smart, too careful, or too experienced to become a victim of fraud. We have seen criminals prey on business owners, investors, even people who teach financial literacy for a living, only to lose thousands to schemes built to exploit trust. These criminals are sophisticated and organized. They’re counting on us not being either. They’re wrong,” Brown said.
He told the Deseret News his two priorities under the FCIC are bringing awareness to financial crimes and removing the stigma and shame that comes with falling victim to such crimes.
In his public remarks, Brown said fraud crimes are what he gets calls about most.
He said he recently heard from a friend who had fallen for a real estate scam.
“What made it unique is that he himself had talked about this very scam, and he was a very sophisticated lawyer who practiced real estate law,” Brown explained. “The reason I tell you that is because this is the kind of thing that literally can happen to anyone. If it’s happened to you, there’s no need to feel ashamed. I just want you to reach out.”
“I want you to report it, because a $30,000 fraud that takes place in Cache County and a $30,000 fraud taking place in Washington County may actually be connected. Our job is to identify that connection.”
In that case, Howard Headlee, president and CEO of the Utah Bankers Association, said timing was critical to serving justice.
“In these cases, time is of the essence. Time is critical,” he said during Wednesday’s press conference. “That attorney knew to call the attorney general. The attorney general called me. I knew to call the American Bankers Association, which got a hold of the bank in Texas where the money was wired to. We got that money back, but it only happened because it happened quickly. This attorney knew what to do.”
Texas was the first state to coin the idea of a statewide financial crimes center, but Brown told the Deseret News that Utah is taking it to the next level.
“We are now taking it and scaling it and making it something that other states like California have literally reached out and asked us, ‘How are you doing it? What kind of expertise are you bringing on? You know, what are the mechanics?’ And that sort of thing,” he said. “So we fully anticipate that this will be a long-standing division that only grows.”
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