Online scam statistics, the latest official data
Every figure on this page comes from an official public source, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and each carries a link to that source. We label the data year on every number: the IC3 figures are calendar-year 2025 (published 2026); the FTC figures are calendar-year 2024, because the FTC's 2025 Consumer Sentinel Data Book was not yet published when this page was last reviewed. Nothing here is a forecast or a figure we invented.
How we check this: Compiled from the FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report, the FTC Consumer Sentinel 2024 press release and Data Book, and the FTC's December 2025 report to Congress on older adults. We add no figure without a verifiable official source; where the current-year report is not yet out, we say so and use the most recent official year, labeled.
The headline numbers
Total losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025, a 26% increase over 2024.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Complaints filed with IC3 in 2025, the first year complaints topped one million (about 3,000 a day).
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Total fraud losses reported to the FTC in 2024, a 25% increase over the prior year.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Consumers who filed fraud reports with the FTC in 2024.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Where the money is lost, top scam types
Investment fraud, the largest loss category in the IC3 2025 data.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Business Email Compromise (BEC) losses, IC3 2025.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Tech- and customer-support scam losses, IC3 2025.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Confidence and romance scam losses across 23,159 complaints, IC3 2025.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Investment scams, the highest-loss FTC category in 2024 (+24% over 2023).
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Imposter scams were the most-reported FTC fraud category in 2024; government-imposter losses reached $789 million.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Business- and job-opportunity scam losses in 2024; job-scam reports tripled from 2020 to 2024.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Crypto and payment methods
Total cryptocurrency-related losses reported to IC3 in 2025, across 181,565 complaints (average loss $62,604).
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
By transaction type in IC3 2025: cryptocurrency 31%, wire/ACH 25%, debit/credit card 21%, peer-to-peer 15%, gift/prepaid card 8%.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
In 2024, consumers reported losing more to bank transfers or cryptocurrency combined than to all other payment methods combined.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Who is targeted
Losses reported by adults 60+ to IC3 in 2025 (201,266 complaints), the highest of any age group; average loss $38,500.
Data year: 2025 · Source: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
The FTC notes older adults report much higher median individual losses than younger adults; for people 80 and over the median reported loss exceeded $1,600.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC report to Congress on older adults, December 2025
In 2024, email was the most common way scammers first reached people, followed by phone calls, then text messages.
Data year: 2024 · Source: FTC press release, March 2025
Two things stand out across every official dataset: losses are rising year over year, and the biggest dollar losses now flow through investment/crypto fraud and hard-to-reverse payments like bank transfers and crypto. The practical takeaway is the one Hunch is built around, the safest moment to catch a scam is before you act on the message, not after.
Reviewed and refreshed annually as the FBI IC3 and FTC release new annual data. Last reviewed 2026-08.