Scam Statistics 2026 — global online fraud, impersonation, and crypto-scam numbers
A reference page for journalists, researchers, and policymakers. Every figure links to a primary source. Updated monthly. Permanent URL: https://gacs.app/scam-statistics-2026.
Reported US consumer fraud losses, 2024 (latest finalised). 25% YoY increase.
Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 report ↗Investment-scam losses, 2024 — the largest single category for the third year running.
Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 report ↗FBI IC3 reported losses, 2024 — a 33% YoY increase, the highest ever recorded.
Source: FBI Internet Crime Report 2024 ↗FBI-tracked crypto-related fraud losses, 2024 — up from $3.9B in 2023.
Source: FBI Internet Crime Report 2024 ↗Median age of US victims with the highest single-incident losses (investment + pig-butchering).
Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 ↗Share of US fraud reports where contact began on social media in 2024 (up from 17% in 2021).
Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 ↗Share of investment-scam contacts in 2024 that originated on a social media platform.
Source: FTC Data Spotlight, 2024 ↗Adults globally who reported encountering an AI-generated scam call, message, or deepfake in 2025.
Source: McAfee Global State of the Scamiverse 2025 ↗Voice sample length now sufficient for production-grade voice cloning (down from 30s in 2023).
Source: McAfee 'Beware the Artificial Impostor' 2024 ↗Estimated global scam losses across 43 surveyed countries, 2024 calendar year.
Source: Global Anti-Scam Alliance, Global State of Scams Report 2024 ↗2026 trend takeaways
- →Total reported losses are rising faster than the number of reports — meaning scams are becoming more lucrative per incident, not more numerous.
- →Social media is now the dominant scam contact channel, overtaking phone and email for the first time in the FTC dataset.
- →Crypto and investment scams account for the majority of dollar losses despite representing a minority of incidents.
- →AI-generated voice, video, and text scams are no longer a future threat — McAfee and GASA both record mainstream consumer exposure in 2025.
For journalists
GACS provides aggregated and anonymised scam-trend data to credentialed press on request — including country-level breakdowns, platform breakdowns, and impersonator-handle frequency. Request data via /press-kit. We respond within 24 hours.
For permission to reuse these statistics in articles, attribution to "GACS Scam Statistics 2026" with a link to this page is sufficient. No prior approval required.
Methodology note
Loss figures reflect reported losses to the cited agencies. FTC and FBI both estimate that fewer than 10% of victims report; the true global figure is likely materially higher. We don't extrapolate; we cite what regulators publish.
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