Americans are now losing an estimated $148 billion each year to online scams, a 22% increase compared to 2024, according to a new report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) tracked $20.8 billion in losses last year, but the CFA notes that the actual losses are much higher.
“One of the biggest problems in fully understanding the scope of these scams is underreporting,” the CFA says. “Due to reporting fragmentation and communication, as well as the understandable devastation, embarrassment, and confusion that victims often feel, estimates on how many people report their losses to scams put it extremely low – often in the single-digit percent of the actual number, according to conservative key government estimations.”
As a result, the US Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that the actual dollar losses to scams are 7.1 times higher than those that are reported.
“Using the 7.1x multiplier as the most accurate available estimate of underreporting, the total true losses are $148.2 billion,” the report says. “Over half of all reported losses involved cryptocurrency, up 21.93% since 2024, with $11.4B in reported losses and an estimated true cost of $80.7B. Drawing on new data from the IC3 and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey (ACS), we estimate the true cost of scams and crimes at $1,009 per U.S. household.”
The CFA adds, “Seniors 60+ remained the largest targeted demographic and saw an increase of over 60% in reported losses, averaging $38,500 per report. The under-20 age group remains the smallest, but saw a 198% increase in reported losses from 2024.”
The researchers note that these numbers will likely continue to increase as AI improves the efficiency and sophistication of social engineering attacks.
“Newer technology is leading to a rise in these scams – in both severity and number: AI is supercharging these scams, social media platforms are enabling the spread, and data brokers facilitate targeting of victims, allowing criminals to reach consumers at massive scales while exploiting highly precise profiling to victimize vulnerable people,” the CFA says.
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The CFA has the story: https://consumerfed.org/news/reports/the-scam-economy/
