Scam Statistics: How Scammers Reach People and How They Get Paid
How do scams start, and how do scammers get their money? These are the Federal Trade Commission's own numbers, from its Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024, published March 10, 2025. It's the most recent annual edition: on October 14, 2026, the FTC's page for a 2025 edition still returned "not found".
The short answer
Email is the most common way scams start: 25% of the 2024 fraud reports that named a contact method began that way. The costliest start is social media: people reported losing $1.86 billion to scams that began there, and 70% of those reports involved a loss. When it came to paying, bank transfers and payments cost people the most ($2.09 billion), followed by cryptocurrency ($1.42 billion).
Nationwide in 2024: 6,471,708 reports to the FTC, including 2,600,678 fraud reports. People reported losing $12,537,194,708 to fraud, and the median loss was $497 (Data Book 2024, pp. 6, 8 and 10).
How scammers reach people
Based on the 1,509,002 fraud reports that named how the scam started (58% of all fraud reports). Download (CSV).
| How it started | Fraud reports | Share of reports | Reports with a money loss | Median loss | Total lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 371,651 | 25% | 11% | $600 | $502 million | |
| Phone call | 284,659 | 19% | 19% | $1,500 | $948 million |
| Text | 246,784 | 16% | 11% | $1,000 | $470 million |
| Social Media | 186,826 | 12% | 70% | $409 | $1.86 billion |
| Website or Apps | 186,663 | 12% | 68% | $200 | $976 million |
| Other | 148,288 | 10% | 40% | $633 | $1.07 billion |
| 42,108 | 3% | 13% | $990 | $90 million | |
| Online Ad or Pop-up | 42,023 | 3% | 62% | $180 | $246 million |
- Most common: email, in 25% of reports, but only 11% of those involved a money loss.
- Most likely to cost money: social media, where 70% of reports involved a loss, for a total of $1.86 billion.
- Biggest typical loss: phone calls, with a median loss of $1,500.
- "Other" includes "TV or radio, print, fax, in person, consumer initiated contact, and other methods consumers write in or that cannot be otherwise categorized," the FTC says.
How people paid scammers
Based on the 475,905 fraud reports that named a payment method (18% of all fraud reports). Download (CSV).
| Payment method | Fraud reports | Total lost | Average per report* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Transfer or Payment | 47,336 | $2.09 billion | $44,100 |
| Cryptocurrency | 46,899 | $1.42 billion | $30,200 |
| Payment App or Service | 90,571 | $391 million | $4,300 |
| Cash | 13,609 | $308 million | $22,600 |
| Wire Transfer | 40,448 | $287 million | $7,100 |
| Credit Cards | 108,881 | $275 million | $2,500 |
| Check | 8,098 | $225 million | $27,800 |
| Gift Card or Reload Card | 41,120 | $212 million | $5,200 |
| Debit Card | 76,285 | $180 million | $2,400 |
| Money Order | 2,658 | $51 million | $19,200 |
* Our calculation: the FTC's total (rounded to the nearest million dollars) divided by the number of reports, rounded to the nearest $100. The FTC doesn't publish a median by payment method. A few very large losses can pull an average up.
- Most money lost: bank transfers and payments ($2.09 billion) and cryptocurrency ($1.42 billion), even though fewer people reported paying that way than by credit card.
- Most reports: credit cards (108,881 reports, $275 million lost).
Already paid a scammer?
Act fast: some payments can still be stopped or disputed. Start with the scam recovery checklist and how to get your money back for each payment method, then:
- Bank Transfer or Payment: Zelle · Gave out your bank account number
- Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin ATM · Crypto investment ("pig butchering")
- Payment App or Service: Venmo · Cash App · PayPal
- Credit Cards: Gave a scammer your card number
- Gift Card or Reload Card: Paid with gift cards
Scam started with a message or a call?
- Email: Clicked a link · Check a message
- Phone call: Call from your "bank" · Medicare calls
- Text: Check a text · USPS texts · Toll texts
- Social Media: Facebook Marketplace · Hacked account
- Online Ad or Pop-up: Tech support pop-ups
How to read these numbers
- They're reports, not a survey. The FTC says the Data Book "is based on unverified reports filed by consumers" and "is not based on a consumer survey" (p. 2). Many scams are never reported.
- Not every report says how. 58% of fraud reports named a contact method and 18% named a payment method. The tables describe those reports only.
- Losses count reports of $1 to $999,999. That's how the FTC calculates amounts lost (p. 3), and it rounds the totals in these tables to the nearest million dollars.
What about 2025?
The FTC hasn't published these tables for 2025 in a Data Book yet. Nationally, it told Congress that "in 2025, consumers submitted 3 million fraud reports to CSN and reported $15.9 billion in losses" (FTC testimony, March 25, 2026).
More FTC data
- Most scammed states: fraud and identity theft reports for every state.
- Most scammed cities: the same reports for 401 metro areas.
- Scams by age: who reports losing money most often, and who loses the most.
Data: Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024, copied from the FTC's own CSV files on October 14, 2026, with totals checked against the FTC's footers. U.S. government works are not covered by copyright (USA.gov). You're welcome to use and cite these tables; please credit the FTC.