Washington, August 7 (RHC)-- U.S. losses from coronavirus-related fraud and identity theft have reached nearly $100 million since the pandemic emerged in March, while complaints of COVID-19 scams have at least doubled in most states, a consumer protection group has said.

A report from the Socialcatfish.com, based on government data, highlighted the vast scope of a fast-growing criminal cottage industry -- from phoney stimulus-check offers to shopping scams and fake cures -- preying on people already distressed by the pandemic and its economic fallout.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the study found California, Florida, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania -- the most populous of the 50 U.S. states -- to be the five most targeted by coronavirus scams in the country.

Together, they accounted for about a third of more than 150,000 instances of COVID-related fraud reported nationally by the Federal Trade Commission from mid-March, when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, through July, the report revealed.