Consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud last year, representing a 25% increase over the previous year, the Federal Trade Commission reported yesterday.
The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, which was roughly the same as the year before. However, the percentage of people who reported losing money to fraud or scams increased from 27% in 2023 to 38% in 2024.
Investment scams accounted for the most fraud losses at $5.7 billion, representing a 24% increase over the previous year. The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams at $2.95 billion. Imposter scams were also the most commonly reported scam, with losses to scammers posing as government officials rising from $171 million in 2023 to $789 million in 2024.
Consumers reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined, according to the FTC. Email was the most common way that consumers reported being contacted by scammers. Phone calls were the second most commonly reported contact method for fraud, followed by text messages.
