Scam Statistics 2026: Reported Losses Hit $16.1 Billion as More Victims, Not Bigger Losses, Drove the Rise
Scam statistics for 2025 from the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network: Americans filed 3,045,796 fraud reports and reported losing $16.06 billion, up 25% on 2024. Only 37% of reports involved a loss, and the median loss was $415. Social media scams cost the most ($2.05B), phone scams had the highest median ($1,835), and people 80 and over lost a median $2,000.
We built this from the FTC’s own numbers: the published Consumer Sentinel Data Book files for 2019 to 2021, and the FTC’s public Tableau dashboards for 2022 to 2025, which we queried year by year with every quarter selected. The dashboard data run to June 30, 2026. Every figure below is computed from those files, and the full table is free to download.
The 2025 scam funnel
Width is proportional to the number of reports. Loss bands come from the FTC’s “amount lost” table. Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel dashboard, calendar 2025, data as of June 30, 2026.
Of 3,045,796 fraud reports in 2025, 1,117,253 said money was lost. 722,413 of those (65%) lost $1,000 or less, while 146,649 (13%) lost more than $10,000. That skew is why the median loss ($415) and the mean loss per report with a loss ($14,373) are so far apart: a minority of very large losses carries most of the dollars.
Losses rose because more people lost money
2019 to 2021: each year’s Consumer Sentinel Data Book, as first published. 2022 to 2025: FTC dashboard, data as of June 30, 2026, so late reports are included. Hover a bar for details.
From 2022 to 2025 (one consistent data vintage), total reported losses rose 80% and the number of reports with a loss rose 79%. The mean loss per report with a loss barely moved: $14,304 in 2022 and $14,373 in 2025, and between $12,685 and $14,430 in every year in between. Meanwhile the median fell from $650 to $415. In other words, the record total came from more victims reporting losses, many of them small, not from the typical loss getting bigger.
One break in the series needs flagging. The share of fraud reports that included a loss jumped from 27% in 2023 to 38% in 2024. The jump is concentrated in a few categories: in online shopping, the share went from 53% to 76%, and in travel and timeshares from 23% to 67%. We found no FTC explanation, so treat loss shares before and after 2024 as separate series.
The FTC did not take reports from consumers from October 1 to November 13, 2025, during the funding lapse. Fraud reports in the fourth quarter of 2025 were 20% below the fourth quarter of 2024, while January to September 2025 ran 27% above the same months of 2024. The 2025 totals are a floor.
Scam statistics by contact method
How the scammer first reached the victim changes every step of the funnel. Text messages produced the most reports in 2025 (411,438, up 67% in a year), but only 9% of those included a loss. Social media produced fewer reports (197,845), yet 72% included a loss and the total reached $2.05B, more than any other channel. Phone calls had the highest median loss, $1,835, up from $1,200 in 2021.
Rows sorted by total lost. Bars are scaled within each column. A contact method was recorded in 58% of 2025 fraud reports.
| Contact method | Reports 2025 | vs 2024 | Share with a loss | Total lost | vs 2024 | Median loss 2025 | Median loss 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social media | 197,845 | +6% | 72% | $2.05B | +11% | $300 | $400 |
| Other | 183,195 | +24% | 41% | $1.32B | +23% | $550 | $622 |
| Website or app | 222,132 | +19% | 69% | $1.12B | +14% | $169 | $300 |
| Phone call | 290,429 | +2% | 19% | $1.11B | +17% | $1,835 | $1,200 |
| Text | 411,438 | +67% | 9% | $639M | +36% | $1,000 | $900 |
| 361,150 | -3% | 14% | $569M | +13% | $415 | $800 | |
| Online ad or pop-up | 47,521 | +13% | 64% | $265M | +8% | $130 | $181 |
| 46,763 | +11% | 12% | $102M | +12% | $844 | $823 |
Bank transfers and crypto carry the biggest losses
Only 535,092 fraud reports in 2025 (18%) named how the money was paid, and those reports account for $6.25 billion of losses. Within that group, bank transfers ($2.29 billion) and cryptocurrency ($1.78 billion) made up 65% of the dollars, from just 18% of the reports. Credit cards were the most common payment method (125,964 reports), but losses on cards were small by comparison.
bank transfer and crypto other methods 2024 level
Younger people lose more often, older people lose more
We tested the common claim in the age data, and it holds. In 2025, 47% of fraud reports from people 19 and under included a loss, falling steadily to 22% for people 80 and over. The median loss runs the other way, from $150 to $2,000. The mean loss per report with a loss shows the same gradient: $5,422 for people in their 20s and $30,747 for people 80 and over. The pattern appears in every year from 2019 to 2025.
Calendar 2025. Based on the 1,409,546 fraud reports that included the person’s age (about 46% of all fraud reports).
People 60 and over filed 469,597 of the reports that included age and reported $3.04 billion in losses, which matches the FTC’s own count in its October 2026 report to Congress on older consumers.
| Age | Reports | Share with a loss | Total lost | Median loss | Mean loss per loss report | 2019: share / median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 and under | 44,873 | 47% | $76 million | $150 | $3,633 | 40% / $200 |
| 20 to 29 | 203,434 | 38% | $417 million | $305 | $5,422 | 33% / $448 |
| 30 to 39 | 248,305 | 36% | $781 million | $356 | $8,821 | 26% / $379 |
| 40 to 49 | 233,752 | 35% | $1.07 billion | $408 | $13,009 | 23% / $410 |
| 50 to 59 | 209,585 | 32% | $1.22 billion | $500 | $18,317 | 19% / $500 |
| 60 to 69 | 234,493 | 28% | $1.45 billion | $640 | $22,108 | 15% / $600 |
| 70 to 79 | 180,365 | 25% | $1.22 billion | $1,000 | $27,221 | 13% / $800 |
| 80 and over | 54,739 | 22% | $374 million | $2,000 | $30,747 | 11% / $1,600 |
Top scam types, 2025 vs 2024
Ranked by dollars lost, using only the fraud portion of each FTC category. Investment scams cost the most by a wide margin, and their median loss passed $10,000.
| Category | Reports 2025 | vs 2024 | Total lost | vs 2024 | Median loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment Related | 144,041 | +19% | $8.07B | +38% | $10,560 |
| Imposter Scams | 1,005,338 | +19% | $3.53B | +18% | $700 |
| Business and Job Opportunities | 158,490 | +24% | $914M | +20% | $2,002 |
| Online Shopping and Negative Reviews | 422,256 | +8% | $449M | +3% | $117 |
| Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries | 70,955 | -27% | $304M | -13% | $780 |
| Travel, Vacations and Timeshare Plans | 65,574 | +3% | $300M | +8% | $697 |
| Internet Services | 197,440 | +62% | $212M | +23% | $300 |
| Foreign Money Offers and Fake Check Scams | 21,146 | +13% | $113M | +35% | $1,764 |
| Advance Payments for Credit Services | 51,559 | +83% | $101M | +35% | $768 |
| Mortgage Foreclosure Relief and Debt Management | 42,082 | +21% | $81M | -4% | $1,500 |
| Health Care | 84,741 | +3% | $80M | -3% | $275 |
| Telephone and Mobile Services | 98,361 | +5% | $66M | +18% | $280 |
Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries is the clearest decliner: 70,955 reports in 2025, down from 158,111 in 2023.
Inside imposter scams
Imposter scams were the most reported fraud category for the sixth year running, according to the FTC’s testimony to the Joint Economic Committee. Government impersonation grew fastest: 377,699 reports in 2025, up 42%, while its median loss fell from $1,500 in 2022 to $645. Romance scams are rarer but costly: 62% of romance reports included a loss, with a median of $2,050.
| Imposter type | Reports 2025 | vs 2024 | Share with a loss | Total lost | Median 2025 | Median 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romance Scams | 70,588 | +16% | 62% | $1.49B | $2,050 | $2,000 |
| Business Imposters | 485,358 | +8% | 20% | $994M | $500 | $800 |
| Government Imposters | 377,699 | +42% | 12% | $918M | $645 | $1,500 |
| Tech Support Scams | 65,461 | -6% | 18% | $192M | $1,200 | $1,100 |
| Family & Friend Imposters | 34,473 | 0% | 33% | $109M | $800 | $721 |
Year by year, 2019 to 2025
| Year | Fraud reports | Reports with a loss | Share | Total lost | Median | Mean per loss report | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1,697,934 | 388,588 | 23% | $1.90 billion | $320 | $4,892 | Data Book |
| 2020 | 2,184,531 | 742,589 | 34% | $3.31 billion | $311 | $4,451 | Data Book |
| 2021 | 2,789,161 | 692,376 | 25% | $5.89 billion | $500 | $8,512 | Data Book |
| 2022 | 2,583,350 | 624,163 | 24% | $8.93 billion | $650 | $14,304 | FTC dashboard |
| 2023 | 2,634,176 | 720,636 | 27% | $10.40 billion | $500 | $14,430 | FTC dashboard |
| 2024 | 2,642,652 | 1,008,889 | 38% | $12.80 billion | $497 | $12,685 | FTC dashboard |
| 2025 | 3,045,796 | 1,117,253 | 37% | $16.06 billion | $415 | $14,373 | FTC dashboard |
Data Book years are as first published each January or February; the FTC keeps adding late reports, so the dashboard’s 2022 to 2024 figures are higher than the Data Books for those years (for 2024, 2,642,652 fraud reports now against 2,600,678 in the 2024 Data Book).
How the FTC numbers compare with other sources
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 1,008,597 complaints and $20.877 billion in losses in 2025. IC3 is a Consumer Sentinel data contributor, so the two systems overlap and cannot be added together. Our phishing statistics report and the five-year trend in ransomware reported to the FBI cover the IC3 side. Australia’s Scamwatch, the top result for this search, publishes a monthly dashboard of reports to its National Anti-Scam Centre; those figures cover Australia only and are not comparable with the US numbers here.
Scams that open new accounts in a victim’s name are counted separately by the FTC, as identity theft. See our identity theft statistics by state and type for that side of the data.
What this means for MSPs
The business-relevant rows are the channels and payment rails. Bank transfers carried $2.29 billion in reported losses in 2025, and business impersonation (bank-impersonator fraud included) produced 485,358 reports, so payment-change verification belongs in every client’s finance process: confirm any new or changed bank details by calling a number already on file, never one in the message. Text was the most common first contact, so mobile devices that receive company messages need the same filtering and reporting path as email. For staff training, the age data argue against one message for everyone: younger people report losing money more often, mostly in small amounts, while older people, often the owners and finance leads at client firms, report the largest losses per case, and scams that start with a phone call carry the highest median loss. Clients who want to cut how much of their staff’s personal data is for sale can start with our data brokers list, which maps the companies registered in three states.
Frequently asked questions
What are the latest scam statistics in the US?
In 2025, Americans filed 3,045,796 fraud reports with the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network and reported losing $16.06 billion, up 25% from $12.80 billion in 2024 (same data vintage). 37% of reports involved a loss, and the median loss was $415.
What is the most common scam today?
Imposter scams: 1,005,338 reports in 2025, about 33% of all fraud reports, with $3.53 billion lost. Business impersonators drew the most imposter reports (485,358). By contact method, text messages produced the most reports (411,438).
What age range gets scammed the most?
Younger people report losing money more often: 47% of fraud reports from people 19 and under and 38% from people in their 20s included a loss in 2025, against 22% for people 80 and over. Older people lose more per case: the median loss was $2,000 at 80 and over against $305 for people in their 20s.
How much money is lost to scams each year?
Reported fraud losses to the FTC rose from $1.9 billion in 2019 to $8.9 billion in 2022 and $16.1 billion in 2025. These are only reported losses; most fraud is never reported.
Which scams cost the most money?
Investment scams: $8.07 billion reported lost in 2025, with a median loss of $10,560. Imposter scams were second at $3.53 billion.
How much is lost to crypto scams?
Reports where people paid scammers in cryptocurrency totaled $1.78 billion in losses in 2025, up 26% from 2024, second only to bank transfers ($2.29 billion). Only reports that name a payment method are counted.
Methodology
Sources. FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book CSV archives for 2019, 2020 and 2021, downloaded from the FTC data sets page. FTC Consumer Sentinel dashboards on Tableau Public (Fraud Reports workbook: Fraud Losses, Payment and Contact Methods, Age and Fraud, Trends Over Time, Subcategories Over Time; The Big View workbook), dated July 28, 2026 (data as of June 30, 2026). We loaded each dashboard, set the Year filter to one calendar year and the Quarter filter to all quarters, and recorded the values the dashboard returned. Retrieved October 29, 2026.
Definitions. A fraud report is a Sentinel report the FTC classifies as fraud (identity theft and other consumer complaints are separate). “Reports with a loss” are fraud reports that included a dollar amount lost. Median and total losses are the FTC’s. Mean loss per loss report is our calculation: total lost divided by reports with a loss. For age groups, reports with a loss are the FTC’s share with a loss times the report count. Category figures use the fraud portion of each category, as the FTC dashboard does.
Coverage and limits. Sentinel data are unverified reports filed by consumers, not a survey, and most fraud is never reported. Sentinel includes reports from data contributors such as the FBI’s IC3 and the Better Business Bureau. Contact method, payment method and age are optional, so those breakdowns cover only reports that include them. Contact method categories changed in October 2020, so contact method comparisons start in 2021. The FTC did not take consumer reports from October 1 to November 13, 2025. Data Book years and dashboard years come from different data vintages; year-on-year changes for 2025 are computed against 2024 from the same dashboard.
Not advice. This is an analysis of public complaint data, not legal or financial advice.
Cite as:The Uptime Report. "Scam Statistics 2026: Reported Losses Hit $16.1 Billion as More Victims, Not Bigger Losses, Drove the Rise." October 2026. https://theuptimereport.com/scam-statistics/
References
- FTC, Data Sets: Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book CSV archives, CY 2019 to CY 2024. Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024. Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, Fraud Reports dashboards (Tableau Public). Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, The Big View: All Sentinel Reports (Tableau Public). Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026 (report to Congress, October 2026). Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, Prepared statement to the Joint Economic Committee on the rising scam economy (March 25, 2026). Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, New FTC Data Show People Have Lost Billions to Social Media Scams (April 27, 2026). Accessed October 2026.
- FTC, FTC Data Show People Reported Losing $3.5 Billion to Imposter Scams in 2025 (June 15, 2026). Accessed October 2026.
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report. Accessed October 2026.
- Scamwatch (National Anti-Scam Centre, Australia), Scam statistics. Accessed October 2026.
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