Scams in 2025, by the numbers: $15.9 billion lost, and what the data reveals
The FTC says people reported losing $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025. Behind that figure is a clear story: who scammers impersonate, how they reach you, and how they get paid. Here is what the latest data shows — and what it means for protecting yourself.
Every year the Federal Trade Commission publishes what consumers reported losing to fraud, and the 2025 figure is sobering: about 3 million fraud reports and $15.9 billion in reported losses, the FTC told the Joint Economic Committee in March 2026 — up from roughly 2.6 million reports and over $12 billion a year earlier. And because most fraud goes unreported, the real total is larger still.
Big numbers can blur together, so it’s worth reading the data for what it actually teaches: who scammers pretend to be, how they reach you, and how they get paid. Those three patterns are the whole game.
Who they pretend to be: imposters lead
The single most common scam in 2025 was the imposter scam. The FTC reports people lost $3.5 billion to imposters, with more than 1 million reports — “nearly one in three fraud reports were about imposter scams,” making it the most-reported category of all.
The impersonations cluster around the institutions you trust most:
- Banks and businesses. Nearly $1 billion was reported lost to business impersonators, with bank impersonators driving the highest losses. The FTC notes that some of the costliest of these “start with a fake security alert, often from a bank.”
- The government. About $920 million went to government impersonators — up from $789 million in 2024 — and government-imposter reports rose 40%, thanks in part to those “overdue toll” texts.
This is exactly why impersonation is the backbone of so much fraud: it borrows trust you’ve already given. (For the playbooks, see government-imposter scams and the bank “fraud alert” text.)
How they reach you: wherever you already are
The data shows scams arriving through every channel: the FTC describes imposters luring people “through text, phone, email, social media, search engine results and other means.” Social media is a standout — the FTC reported in 2026 that losses to social-media scams have climbed dramatically, running many times higher than they were in 2020.
The lesson isn’t to fear one channel; it’s that the channel doesn’t certify the sender. A text, a DM, a sponsored search result, and a phone call are equally easy to fake. Unexpected contact is unverified contact, full stop.
How they get paid: the irreversible rails
Here’s the most actionable pattern of all. In its 2024 data, the FTC found consumers “reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined.” Wire transfers, crypto, and gift cards keep showing up at the top of the loss tables for one reason: once the money moves, it’s extremely hard to claw back.
So the payment method itself is a tell. A legitimate transaction almost never requires crypto, a wire, or gift cards — a demand for one is often the clearest sign you’re being scammed.
A second federal scoreboard: the FBI’s tally
The FTC isn’t the only agency counting. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) keeps a separate ledger, and its 2025 Internet Crime Report is even larger: $20.877 billion in reported losses across 1,008,597 complaints — up from 859,532 complaints the year before — with cryptocurrency- and AI-related complaints among the costliest.
These two numbers ($15.9 billion from the FTC, $20.877 billion from the FBI) aren’t meant to be added together. They come from different datasets — different reporting systems, definitions, and audiences — so they overlap rather than stack. What matters is that two independent federal scoreboards point the same direction: losses at record highs, driven by the same impersonation-and-irreversible-payment machine.
One figure from the IC3 data deserves its own line: people over 60 reported about $7.7 billion in losses, up about 59% from 2024. Older adults are targeted hardest and lose the most, which is why protecting a parent or grandparent is some of the highest-leverage prevention there is. (See the family playbook for protecting your aging parents.)
The one move underneath the costliest scams
Read together, the numbers point to a single hinge. Some of the most expensive impersonation scams, the FTC says, talk people into moving their own money to “protect” it — with losses “often limited only by their available funds.” That instruction — move your money to keep it safe — is the heart of the machine.
No real bank or agency ever says it. Which is why the most powerful habit is The Pause on Money: before you move or send funds on someone else’s say-so, stop and verify independently — hang up and reach the institution yourself. And the category that cost Americans the most in 2025 wasn’t impersonation at all: per the same FTC testimony, investment scams drove the largest reported losses, at $7.9 billion — roughly half the total. The same discipline of checking first applies there; see how to vet an investment before you buy.
The headline number changes every year, but the structure rarely does: borrowed trust, any channel, irreversible payment. Learn the structure and you’re protected against next year’s total too. For more, see the named defense moves or test your eye on the 60-second quiz.
- A contact you didn't initiate claims to be your bank, a government agency, or a well-known company — and creates urgency.
- You're pushed to "protect" your money by moving it, or to pay by bank transfer, wire, gift card, or cryptocurrency.
- The approach arrives by text, a social-media ad or message, a search result, email, or phone — wherever you already are.
- No real bank or agency will ever tell you to move your money to "keep it safe." That instruction is the scam.
- Slow down before paying or moving money — especially by bank transfer, wire, gift card, or crypto, which the data shows drive the biggest losses.
- Verify any urgent request independently: hang up and contact the bank or agency yourself, using a number you already trust.
- Treat unexpected contact as unverified no matter how it arrives — text, social media, search, email, or call.
Numbers this big can numb rather than inform, so here’s the one pattern I’d pull out of all of it. Some of the costliest impersonation scams the FTC describes start with a fake alert — often a bank — and end with the victim being talked into moving their own money to ‘protect’ it. That single move, transferring funds to keep them safe, is the hinge the whole multi-billion-dollar machine turns on. If everyone internalized just that — no real institution ever tells you to move your money to a safe account — a real share of that $15.9 billion would simply not happen.
Sources
- FTC — Testimony before the Joint Economic Committee on combating fraud (March 2026)
- FBI IC3 — 2025 Internet Crime Report (Annual Report)
- FTC — People Reported Losing $3.5 Billion to Imposter Scams in 2025 (June 2026)
- FTC — New Data Show a Big Jump in Reported Losses to Fraud to $12.5 Billion in 2024 (March 2025)
- FTC — New Data Show People Have Lost Billions to Social Media Scams (April 2026)
Frequently asked
How much did people actually lose to scams in 2025?
A staggering amount. The FTC told the Joint Economic Committee in March 2026 that in 2025 it received about 3 million fraud reports, with consumers reporting $15.9 billion in losses — up from roughly 2.6 million reports and over $12 billion the year before. And those are only the reported losses; most fraud is never reported, so the true total is higher.
What was the most common scam?
Imposter scams. The FTC reports people lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with more than 1 million reports — "nearly one in three fraud reports were about imposter scams," making it the most-reported category. Within that, bank impersonators drove the highest losses, with nearly $1 billion reported lost to business impersonators overall and about $920 million to government impersonators (up from $789 million in 2024). Government-imposter reports jumped 40%, driven in part by those "overdue toll" texts.
I've seen a higher number — around $21 billion. Which figure is right?
Both are real; they come from different agencies. The $15.9 billion figure is the FTC's, from its Consumer Sentinel reports. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported a larger $20.877 billion in losses across 1,008,597 complaints in its 2025 Internet Crime Report. They are separate datasets with different reporting systems, so you can't add them together — but both reached record highs, and both point to the same impersonation-driven, irreversible-payment pattern.
Who loses the most to scams?
Older adults bear the heaviest dollar losses. The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report found people over 60 reported about $7.7 billion in losses, up about 59% from the year before. That is why prevention aimed at parents and grandparents — a family safe word, the habit of pausing before moving money — is some of the most valuable protection there is.
How do scammers usually get the money?
Through hard-to-reverse payments. In its 2024 data, the FTC found consumers "reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined." That's why a push toward wire, bank transfer, crypto, or gift cards is such a reliable warning sign — those methods are chosen precisely because the money is difficult to recover.