Research · Issue area · Fraud and Scams
Fraud and Scam Losses
Americans reported $12.5 billion in fraud losses to the Federal Trade Commission in 2024. Who loses money to scams, how much of it comes back, and which protections actually reduce losses?
Evidence on who is targeted by financial fraud and scams, what victims lose in money and time, and which protections work.
About this issue area
The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network received 2.6 million fraud reports in 2024, with $12.5 billion in reported losses. Complaint data capture only the people who report. In the Federal Reserve's 2024 SHED, 8 percent of U.S. adults said they had experienced a financial fraud or scam other than credit card fraud in the past year, and 17 percent reported credit card fraud or a scam involving their credit card.
Losses are not only financial. In the Institute's analysis of the 2024 SHED, about three in ten adults who experienced a non-credit-card fraud or scam spent ten hours or more dealing with its consequences, and about one in three of those who reported on their losses lost money that was never fully recovered or refunded.
Research questions in this area include: which households are most exposed to fraud and least able to absorb a loss; how fast-moving scams, including those using new technology, reach consumers; and which protections — from bank practices to consumer education — measurably reduce losses.
Plain-language explainer
What this means for you
A phone call that sounds like your bank. A text about a package you never ordered. An investment pitch from someone you met online. Scams are now part of everyday life, and Americans reported losing $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024 alone.
The damage goes beyond the money. About three in ten victims spend ten hours or more dealing with the consequences, and many never get all their money back. Our research measures who is being hit, how hard, and which protections actually work, so that banks, educators and policymakers can put their effort where it stops the most losses. Your support funds that evidence.
Forthcoming outputs
- — Research brief on financial hardship and scam exposure among adults 65 and older (in preparation)
Policy audiences for this work
- Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- FINRA Investor Education Foundation
- State attorneys general consumer-protection divisions
- Senate Special Committee on Aging staff
- Bank and credit-union fraud-prevention leaders
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Older Adults' Financial Security
Issue area · Financial Education
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Behavioral Measurement in Personal-Finance Education
Issue area · FinTech Regulation
FinTech Regulatory Frameworks
Issue area · FinTech Consumer Protection
FinTech Consumer Protection
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