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.
Live GACS registry — updated continuously
416,905+
confirmed scam entities in the GACS registry (websites, wallets, tokens, phones)
416,529+
phishing and scam websites tracked by GACS
286,614
new scam entities added to GACS in the last 30 days
4,038
new scam entities added to GACS in the last 7 days
0
victim-submitted scam reports on GACS
Snapshot generated Wed, 23 Sep 2026 23:17:21 GMT. Free for editorial reuse with attribution + link back to this page.
$12.5B
Reported US consumer fraud losses, 2024 (latest finalised). 25% YoY increase.
$5.7B
Investment-scam losses, 2024 — the largest single category for the third year running.
$16.6B
FBI IC3 reported losses, 2024 — a 33% YoY increase, the highest ever recorded.
$5.8B
FBI-tracked crypto-related fraud losses, 2024 — up from $3.9B in 2023.
60+
Median age of US victims with the highest single-incident losses (investment + pig-butchering).
29%
Share of US fraud reports where contact began on social media in 2024 (up from 17% in 2021).
70%+
Share of investment-scam contacts in 2024 that originated on a social media platform.
1 in 3
Adults globally who reported encountering an AI-generated scam call, message, or deepfake in 2025.
3 sec
Voice sample length now sufficient for production-grade voice cloning (down from 30s in 2023).
$1.03T
Estimated global scam losses across 43 surveyed countries, 2024 calendar year.
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.
Related reference pages
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✓ Originally published on GACS — Global Anti-Crime & Safety. This statistics reference is maintained at https://gacs.app/scam-statistics-2026. Verify the latest version there before citing or republishing.
Explore more: public scam registry, live scam alerts, report a scam, Impersonation Trends Report, AI Scam Report. © GACS · Licensed CC BY 4.0 with attribution to gacs.app.
