FTC Says Consumers Lost $15.9bn To Fraud In 2025

The figure comes from new FTC Consumer Sentinel data showing that reported fraud losses reached $15.9 billion in 2025, up sharply from $12.5 billion in 2024 and continuing a steep multi‑year rise in scam losses.

What the $15.9bn number represents

• The $15.9 billion reflects losses that consumers themselves reported to the FTC and its Sentinel network (state AGs, CFPB, etc.), not an estimate of all fraud in the economy, so true losses are likely higher.

• It builds on the prior FTC data point of $12.5 billion in 2024 reported fraud losses, which was already a 25% increase over 2023.

Leading scam types in 2025

• Imposter scams remained the most frequently reported fraud type, generating around one million reports and about $3.5 billion in reported losses in 2025.

• Investment scams were again the top category by dollars lost, continuing the trend noted in 2024 when they accounted for $5.7 billion of the $12.5 billion total.

Why this matters for risk and compliance

• The continued jump from $12.5 billion (2024) to $15.9 billion (2025) suggests both rising scam sophistication and higher success rates in extracting funds, particularly via bank transfers and crypto, which in 2024 already exceeded all other payment methods combined.

• For financial institutions, these trends bolster the case for enhanced anomaly detection around transfers, stronger customer education on imposter and investment scams, and closer integration with FTC and law‑enforcement guidance using Sentinel data dashboards by state, age, and channel.