FTC data reveals US consumers lost $12.5bn to scams in 2024
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed that US consumers reported losses of over $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a sharp rise from the $10 billion reported in 2023.
Imposter scams were the most frequently reported type of scam in 2024
The 25% rise from the previous year was “not driven by an increase in fraud reports”, according to the FTC, which remained steady at around 2.6 million.
However, the “percentage of people who reported losing money to a fraud or scam increased by double digits”, with the proportion of those who lost money rising from 27% to 38% in just one year.
Investment scams led the losses, climbing to $5.7 billion from $4.6 billion in 2023, while imposter scams were the “most commonly reported scam category”, according to the FTC. In particular, government imposter fraud losses spiked from $171 million in 2023 to $789 million in 2024.
Online shopping issues ranked as the second most reported fraud category, followed by other categories such as business and job opportunities, investment schemes, and internet services. Notably, prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries dropped out of the top five this year, after holding the third spot in 2023.
The report also noted that scams involving bank transfers and cryptocurrency resulted in greater financial losses “than all other payment methods combined”.
Additionally, FTC data shows that email was the most common method scammers used to contact victims for the second year in a row, with 372,000 reported incidents. Meanwhile, phone scams saw an increase in median losses, reaching $1,500 per victim.
Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, says the data highlights that “scammers’ tactics are constantly evolving”, emphasising that the FTC is “monitoring those trends closely and working hard to protect the American people from fraud”.
