Americans reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a 25% increase over the previous year, according to Federal Trade Commission data.
The rise was not driven by an increase in fraud reports, which remained stable at around 2.6 million. Instead, the percentage of people who reported losing money to a fraud or scam increased by double digits. In 2023, 27% of people who reported a fraud said they lost money, while in 2024, that figure jumped to 38%.
Investment scams accounted for nearly half of losses - $5.7 billion, 24% up on 2023.
The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with $2.95 billion reported lost. Losses to government imposter scams increased $171 million from 2023 to a total of $789 million in 2024.
Online shopping issues were the second most commonly reported in the fraud category, followed by business and job opportunities, where reported losses totalled $750.6 million — up nearly $250 million from 2023.
For the second consecutive year, 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 in 2024, followed by text messages.
In 2024, consumers reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined.