Every message is a possible trap.
Scam texts, fake emails and bad links will keep growing, because most people can’t tell a real message from a good fake.
Americans reported losing $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024. Reports rose from 2.6 million to about 3 million in a year.1 Scams that started with a text message took $470 million, five times the 2020 total.2
Americans reported losing a record $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024 (FTC).
The trend
More numbers
lost to scams that started on social media in 2024. 70% of people contacted that way lost money.3
lost to job scams in 2024, up from $90 million in 2020.4
of 2024 fraud reports came from Americans aged 20 to 29.4
The other side
Banks and phone carriers block more scam texts and calls every year, and part of the rise reflects more people reporting.
fewer text-scam reports in 2024 than in 2020: 247,000, down from 332,000. FTC data ↗
fraud reports in 2024, about the same number as the year before. Federal Trade Commission ↗
Why Anthony still holds this view
Fewer reports with larger losses means scams are getting better, not fewer.
For marketers
Your brand will be impersonated. Tell customers exactly how you will and won’t contact them, and keep those channels consistent.
For you
Don’t tap links in unexpected texts. Go to the company’s app or website yourself.