Americans reported losing $20.9 billion to internet-enabled crime in 2025, according to FBI data — a 26% jump from the prior year and the highest total ever recorded. Nearly every other category of crime, from homicide to car theft, fell. Online scams didn’t.
Victims over 60 accounted for $7.7 billion of the total losses, averaging $38,500 each. The Federal Trade Commission says the real number is almost certainly higher, since most victims never file a report.
Most of this money isn’t stolen through hacked accounts or breached firewalls. It’s handed over voluntarily. Victims are manipulated into wiring their own money, which means the transaction looks legitimate to every automated system along the way — banks included.
Where the Money Goes
The destination of these funds matters. The Treasury Department estimates Americans lost at least $10 billion in 2024 to scam operations based in Southeast Asia, a 66% increase from the year before. These operations run out of Burma, Cambodia and Laos, and many are staffed by trafficked workers held under debt bondage or coercion.
Social media has accelerated the problem. The FTC reports scams originating on social platforms cost Americans $2.1 billion last year — eight times what they cost in 2020, and more than any other method scammers use to make contact. Artificial intelligence is compounding the threat, letting scammers fake fluent English and convincing photos without needing either themselves.
The Bank Lawsuit That Didn’t Hold Up
In December 2024, the outgoing Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the operator of the Zelle payment network along with three of its largest participating banks over scam losses. The suit was dismissed with prejudice three months later.
Banks already run real-time risk scoring on outbound payments, issue mid-transaction warnings when money is headed to an unfamiliar recipient, and block transfers their models flag — sometimes over a customer’s own objections that the caller claiming to be from
