Americans Lost $20 Billion to Scams Last Year. Lawmakers Need to Step Up to the Plate.
Earlier this month, the FBI released its annual Internet Crime Report for 2025, and its findings put solid numbers behind a larger crisis groups across the country have been sounding the alarm bell on in recent months.
Americans filed over 1 million complaints with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025.
Individuals lost a record $20.8 billion to online scams and fraud. That's a 26% jump from the year before.
Unsurprisingly, criminals targeted the most vulnerable. Americans aged 60 and older suffered the greatest financial harm, losing $7.7 billion — a nearly 60% increase from 2024.
These trends are alarming, and they’ll only get worse if we don’t do something about it. Advances in AI and deepfake technology will just make it all the more easier for criminals to strike.
The Platforms Are Part of the Problem
Scammers aren't operating in back alleys. They're buying ads. They're impersonating real businesses. They're using AI-cloned voices and deepfakes to target vulnerable users – and social media platforms are collecting ad revenue the whole time.
Investigative work by the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations found that nearly half of scams now originate on social media platforms.
While social media companies have begun investing in fraud detection, losses keep surging. The current system puts all the burden on victims and law enforcement, while the tech and telecoms companies that profit from scams face little to no accountability.
What Good Policy Looks Like
The good news: the fixes are straightforward. Bipartisan legislation already on the table shows what's possible.
As we’ve covered before, Representatives Dan Meuser (R-PA) and Lou Correa (D-CA) have introduced bipartisan legislation, called the Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act – with Senate companions from Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH).
The bill would:
Ban paid scam ads and hold social media and online platforms accountable when they profit from fraud
Require real advertiser verification – ID checks, impersonation safeguards, user reporting tools
Force fast takedowns of flagged fraudulent ads
This is exactly the type of smart policy we need from our lawmakers – legislation that imposes real penalties so companies can't just treat fines as a cost of doing business.
The Bottom Line
Scams aren’t a consumer problem, a personal failing, or just a symptom of the online era that Americans must consistently identify and avoid. They’re a policy failure with real impacts on real people.
The FBI can keep running operations. Consumers can keep being warned. But until lawmakers crack down on the root cause of these scams – the platforms where criminals target their victims – the $20 billion figure will keep climbing.
Lawmakers must act to keep Americans – and their pocketbooks – safe. We need immediate movement on legislation like the SCAM Act: commonsense, bipartisan solutions that protect Americans and put consumers first.