Consumers in the US lost over $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, an increase of 35 per cent compared to the previous year, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The civil protection agency said that this is not driven by an increase in fraud reports, which remained stable. Instead, the percentage of people who reported losing money to a scam increased by “double digits.”

In 2023, 27 per cent of people who reported a fraud said they lost money, while in 2024, that figure jumped to 38 per cent.

Consumers lost around $5.7 billion to investment scams last year, which the FTC said is an increase of 24 per cent compared with the previous year and the most in any category.

The second highest reported loss came from imposter scams, which the FTC said amounted to $2.95 billion across the 12-month period.

Losses to government imposter scams increased from $171 million in 2023 to $789 million last year.

According to the FTC, consumers reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined.

The FTC said it received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, nearly the same amount as 2023.

“The data we’re releasing today shows that scammers’ tactics are constantly evolving,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC is monitoring those trends closely and working hard to protect the American people from fraud.”

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