Even though U.S. fraud complaints declined slightly in 2024, fraud victims lost a lot more money than they did in 2023.
That’s one of the takeaways from the FTC’s annual fraud report released yesterday. So while fraud complaints in 2024 dipped to 2.6 million from 2023’s 2.62 million, U.S. fraud losses soared by 25% to $12.5 billion.
More people lost money in 2024 too. One in three (33%) of those 2.6 million complaints involved financial loss, compared to one in four (25%) in 2023. Part of the reason for the growing fraud losses could be that AI and deepfakes have made scam tactics more convincing, as they have with phishing and spoofing attacks.
Below is a deeper look at the FTC fraud report via the data found on the agency’s public Tableau page.
FTC Fraud Report: ID Theft, Other Complaints Rise
While fraud complaints declined slightly, identity theft complaints increased to 1.14 million in 2024 from 1.04 million in 2023.
The category of “other” saw the biggest increase, from 1.91 million reports in 2023 to 2.76 million in 2024. The image below summarizes the FTC findings.
The “other” category includes credit bureaus, banks and lenders, debt collection, auto-related, credit cards and other business and financial services.
Investment Fraud Remains Most Costly – and Growing
Investment-related fraud remains by far the most costly, with 79% of the 118,960 complainants reporting financial loss, with a median loss of $9,196, up from 2023’s $8,000 median loss. In all, complainants lost $5.7 billion to investment scams.
In 2020, investment-related fraud totaled $424 million on 29,070 complaints, for a median loss of $1,545, so losses in that category have soared since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the 2020-2024 time period, investment-related fraud has grown from number 10 on the FTC fraud report list to number 4.
After investment-related fraud, business and job-related fraud were the next most costly in 2024, with a median loss of $2,250, up $90 from 2023. Business and job-related fraud has also grown dramatically, vaulting from eight place to third since 2020, and the number of complaints have doubled during that time period.
The next three most costly fraud types in 2024 were mortgage foreclosure relief and debt management; prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries; and travel, vacation and timeshare plans.
Imposter scams were by far the biggest source of fraud complaints at nearly 846,000, but complainants only lost money an average of 22% of the time, and the median loss was $800, so perhaps people are getting better at recognizing fraud.
Among all payment methods, people lost more money through bank transfers or payments ($2 billion), followed by cryptocurrency at $1.4 billion – not surprising, as such payments can be difficult to reverse.
People reported losing money more often when they were contacted through social media, the FTC said.
The report also shows that fraud can hit anyone. People aged 20-29 reported losing money more often than people 70 and above – but losses were highest when older adults lost money.
Avoiding Scams as U.S. Fraud Losses Soar
Growing U.S. fraud losses show that it’s more important than ever to avoid getting scammed, and AI and deepfakes will continue to make scams more convincing.
To minimize your chances of getting scammed or defrauded, block unwanted calls and texts and report them as spam. And if you weren’t expecting a request for money or financial or personal information, assume it’s a scam. Trustworthy organizations likely won’t be asking for personal information or money via text, email or phone call.
Don’t respond to pressure tactics or urgency, which is a common scammer tactic. And report fraud attempts to the FTC.
