Fraud losses in the United States reached an estimated $12.5 billion in 2025, according to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network. But that figure represents only reported losses — the FTC estimates that fewer than 5% of fraud victims file official reports. The true cost of scams in America likely exceeds $200 billion annually when accounting for unreported incidents, indirect costs, and emotional damage.
This report compiles the most current statistics from the FTC, FBI IC3, Javelin Strategy & Research, AARP, and our own data from processing over 10 million scam checks through IsThisAScam in the past year.
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Total Reported Losses
- FTC Consumer Sentinel (2025): $12.5 billion in reported losses, up from $10.3 billion in 2024
- FBI IC3 (2025): $16.6 billion in reported cybercrime losses
- Global estimate (Juniper Research): Over $343 billion in online payment fraud losses worldwide between 2023-2027
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Losses by Scam Type
| Scam Type | Reported Losses (2025) | Change from 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Investment scams | $4.57 billion | +21% |
| Business email compromise | $2.9 billion | +8% |
| Tech support scams | $1.3 billion | +15% |
| Romance scams | $1.14 billion | +12% |
| Government impersonation | $789 million | +34% |
| Online shopping fraud | $5.7 billion | +18% |
| Employment scams | $330 million | +45% |
| Rental scams | $485 million | +22% |
Per-Victim Losses
- Median loss across all scam types: $500 (FTC, 2025)
- Median investment scam loss: $9,600
- Median romance scam loss: $4,400
- Median online shopping scam loss: $102
- Median employment scam loss: $1,900
- Highest single reported loss (FBI IC3): $35.5 million (business email compromise)
Demographics: Who Gets Scammed?
By Age
The data defies the stereotype that only elderly people fall for scams:
- 18-29: Most likely to report losing money to scams (44% of reports in this age group involved a financial loss). Median loss: $460. Most common: online shopping, employment, and social media scams.
- 30-49: Highest volume of scam reports. Median loss: $600. Most common: phishing, online shopping, and investment scams.
- 50-69: Higher per-incident losses. Median loss: $1,000. Most common: tech support, investment, and government impersonation.
- 70+: Highest per-incident losses. Median loss: $1,600. Most common: tech support, romance, and government impersonation. This age group is most likely to lose money via phone scams.
By Contact Method
- Email: 34% of all scam contacts
- Phone calls: 26%
- Text messages: 22%
- Social media: 12%
- Websites/apps: 6%
By Payment Method
How victims paid scammers (2025 data):
- Cryptocurrency: $3.96 billion (highest total, up 45% year over year)
- Bank transfers/payments: $2.4 billion
- Wire transfers: $1.8 billion
- Credit cards: $1.1 billion (most recoverable through chargebacks)
- Gift cards: $217 million
- Cash/money orders: $178 million
Reporting Rates
The vast majority of scams go unreported:
- Only 4.8% of fraud victims report to the FTC (AARP estimate)
- Only 15% report to any authority (FTC, FBI, state AG, or police)
- Reasons for not reporting: embarrassment (42%), belief nothing will be done (38%), did not know where to report (12%), loss was too small (8%)
This means the $12.5 billion in reported FTC losses likely represents less than 10% of actual losses.
IsThisAScam Platform Data
From our own data processing over 10 million scam checks in the past 12 months:
- Messages analyzed: 10.2 million
- Flagged as likely scams: 3.1 million (30.4%)
- Flagged as suspicious: 1.8 million (17.6%)
- Most common scam detected: Phishing emails (34% of flagged items)
- Fastest growing category: AI-generated content (+267% year-over-year)
- Average URL age for flagged phishing sites: 4.2 days
These statistics underscore why automated detection through tools like IsThisAScam's 6-layer analysis engine is essential — the volume and sophistication of scams have exceeded what manual vigilance alone can handle.
For context on these numbers, see the 25 most common scams and the psychology behind why people fall for fraud.
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