Scam Statistics 2025

Consumers reported $12.5 billion in losses to scams in 2024, a 25% increase from 2023 — the highest losses ever recorded.

The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received 859,532 complaints in 2024, with reported losses totaling $16.6 billion — a 33% increase year over year.

The Global Anti-Scam Alliance estimates worldwide scam losses at approximately $1.03 trillion in the past 12 months, factoring in unreported cases.

Investment fraud was the highest-loss scam category in 2024, driven largely by cryptocurrency investment scams and pig butchering.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) and email account compromise scams cost U.S. businesses $2.9 billion in 2024 through wire fraud and impersonation.

Tech support scams — fake Microsoft and Apple support calls, fake virus popups — cost Americans $924 million in 2024.

Romance scams, including pig butchering variants, cost victims $1.1 billion with over 59,000 reported cases — though actual losses are likely much higher due to underreporting.

Imposter scams — government impersonation, business impersonation, tech support, and grandparent scams — remained the most reported fraud category in 2024.

Adults aged 60 and older reported $4.9 billion in losses to fraud in 2024, with a median individual loss of $1,450. Older adults are disproportionately targeted by high-loss scams.

Victims aged 80 and older had the highest average individual loss at nearly $83,000 — often representing their entire retirement savings.

Adults aged 20-29 reported fraud losses more often (44%) than adults aged 70-79 (24%), but older victims lost significantly more per incident on average.

Text-based scams cost Americans $470 million in reported losses in 2024 — with delivery scams, bank fraud alerts, and toll scams topping the list.

Phone-based scams remained the third most-reported contact method, with $1.1 billion in losses despite continued carrier anti-spam efforts.

Email was the most common contact method reported in fraud cases, accounting for 25% of all reported scams in 2024.

Social media was the highest-loss contact method in 2024, with victims losing a median of $700 per scam originating on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Cryptocurrency investment fraud losses exceeded $5.8 billion in 2024, with pig butchering scams accounting for the largest share.

The average reported loss per cryptocurrency fraud incident exceeded $40,000 in 2024, significantly higher than other scam categories.