According to Federal Trade Commission data released Monday, American consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, amounting to a 25% jump from the year before.
The FTC received 2.6 million reports of fraud last year, which was relatively close to what was reported in 2023, but the percentage of people who said they lost money as a result of scams and other kinds of fraud jumped up 11% this year. The FTC's data shows that 38% of people reported losses to scams and other types of fraud in 2024, while 27% reported the same kind of losses in 2023.
While those numbers may seem staggering, experts say they likely represent just a fraction of actual instances of fraud and losses, because most financial fraud continues to go unreported. Most victims are too ashamed to come forward, or just feel that doing so won't do any good.
"The data we're releasing today shows that scammers' tactics are constantly evolving," Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement, adding that the FTC continues to work to monitor fraud trends and protect consumers.
The amount of money lost to investment scams jumped 24% percent to $5.7 billion last year, representing the largest amount of fraud by category and significantly outpacing imposter scams, which accounted for over $2.9 billion in losses.
A significant portion of the imposter scam losses involved government imposter scams, where a cybercriminal will falsely claim to be a representative from a government agency like the IRS, FEMA or a local police department. Those losses jumped 28% to $789 million.
The FTC added that it continues to see increases in job and employment scams. Losses related to those have risen from $90 million in 2020 to $501 million in 2024.