Scam patterns and what they cost people
These are the patterns that show up most often in the GACS registry, written for anyone trying to work out what happened to them — or to someone they care about. Each one pairs what we can see in our own data with the official reported losses published by the FTC and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. Registry figures last refreshed November 10, 2026.
Where the numbers come from. Counts labelled “in the GACS registry” are live from our own database of 449,153 listed scam operations and 141 first-hand reports. Dollar figures are not ours: GACS does not ask people how much they lost, so every amount below is a reported national figure from a cited government source. Quote any of it with attribution.
Fake investment coaching and long-con crypto fraud
Contact starts as friendly conversation or a trading tip, moves to a private chat, then to a platform that shows fake profits. Withdrawals fail, and a fee is demanded to release the money.
88 first-hand reports filed with GACS
People reported losing $5.7 billion to investment scams in 2024 — more than any other fraud category. 79% of those who reported one lost money, with a median loss above $9,000. The FBI's IC3 put investment fraud losses at $6.57 billion for the same year.
Sources: FTC, reported fraud losses 2024 · FTC Consumer Advice, top scams of 2024 · FBI IC3 Annual Report 2024
Support desks, giveaways and people who are not who they say
An account copies a real brand, exchange or public figure — support handle, airdrop, verification helper, livestream giveaway — and asks for a seed phrase, a login, or a small 'verification' payment.
3,724 impersonator accounts listed in the registry
Imposter scams were the most-reported fraud category of 2024, with $2.95 billion in reported losses. Government imposter scams alone accounted for $789 million, up $171 million on the year before.
Sources: FTC, reported fraud losses 2024
Fake shops, phishing pages and cloned brands
A new domain copies a real shop, bank or wallet, takes a card payment or a login, and disappears. Most of these sites live for days, which is why a site can look clean and still be fraudulent.
445,161 fraudulent domains listed in the registry
Online shopping was the second most-reported fraud category of 2024, and people reported losing over $3 billion to scams that started online, against roughly $1.9 billion for calls, texts and email combined.
Sources: FTC, reported fraud losses 2024 · FTC Consumer Advice, top scams of 2024
Scam calls and texts
A spoofed number shows a bank, a carrier or a government agency on your screen. The caller creates urgency — a frozen account, an arrest warrant, a fraudulent charge — and steers you to a transfer, a gift card or a code read aloud.
2 numbers listed in the registry
People lost more money per person when they dealt with a scammer by phone than by any other contact method in 2024 — a median loss of $1,500.
Job offers and task work that cost you money
A recruiter messages out of the blue with easy remote work. The 'job' involves topping up an account to unlock earnings, or paying for equipment and training up front.
Reports of job and employment-agency scams nearly tripled between 2020 and 2024, and reported losses grew from $90 million to $501 million. Business and job-opportunity losses totalled $750.6 million in 2024.
Sources: FTC, reported fraud losses 2024 · FTC Consumer Advice, top scams of 2024
Tech support and account security scams
A pop-up, call or email warns of a virus or a compromised account, then asks for remote access to the device — and from there, access to the bank.
Tech support fraud cost $1.46 billion in reported losses in 2024 according to the FBI's IC3, the third largest cyber-enabled fraud category after investment fraud and business email compromise.
Sources: FBI IC3 Annual Report 2024
Written-up cases from the registry
Each of these is built from the reports filed against that account or site, with the dates and sources shown on the page. Report counts are the number of separate reports recorded against it.
- @OfficialTravlad (X): what the reports show and how the scam works741 reports on file
- @G0tzeWeb3 (X): what the reports show and how the scam works657 reports on file
- @OfficalTravlad (X): what the reports show and how the scam works622 reports on file
- @cryptoxxxcoffee (X): what the reports show and how the scam works265 reports on file
- @hailey_cryptoo (X): what the reports show and how the scam works147 reports on file
- @Y0llo (X): what the reports show and how the scam works115 reports on file
- @WhaleEverything (X): what the reports show and how the scam works64 reports on file
- @cryptocupra (X): what the reports show and how the scam works63 reports on file
- USDT Cloud Mining 2026: what the reports show and how the scam works53 reports on file
If this happened to you
- The first hour — what to freeze, who to call, and what evidence to keep before it disappears.
- File a report — it adds the site, wallet or account to the registry so the next person searching it finds a warning.
- Beware the second scam — anyone promising to recover your money for a fee is running the follow-up con. GACS never recovers funds and never charges for a report.
- Talk to other people — the community forum, where people post what happened and what worked.
Journalists and researchers: the underlying counts are on the registry statistics page with open CSV and JSON exports, and the press page explains how we can introduce you to people who have agreed to speak.
Authoritative sources
Independent primary sources used to check and corroborate the guidance on this page.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)Official US channel for reporting internet-enabled fraud and cybercrime.
US Federal Trade Commission — ReportFraudConsumer fraud reporting and published enforcement data.
UK Report FraudUK national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
Canadian Anti-Fraud CentreCanada's central repository for fraud reports and scam alerts.