USA/Cyberscams—
Suzanne Potter, producer, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
Online scams cost American consumers an estimated $119 billion each year, and took more than $18 billion from Californians.
Those are just two of the scary findings in “The Scam Economy,” a new report from a coalition of nonprofit groups called Consumer Federation of America. The FBI says Americans reported losing about $16.6 billion to online scams in 2024, but this study estimates the “true” cost is seven times higher – because only about 14% of cybercrimes are reported.
Ben Winters, director of artificial intelligence and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, said those losses increased 33% from 2023.
“Investment scams last year were, by far, the highest amount of money being lost,” he said. “We also see a lot of business email compromise scams, some phishing scams, also tech support scams.”
The report says 78% of the scams originate online, and finds the majority spread through social media – especially Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, platforms owned by California-based Meta. On Wednesday, Meta announced that last year, it removed more than 159 million scam ads and deleted almost 11 million Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to scam centers. The company says it is also testing new warnings to help people navigate suspicious accounts.
Winters said social media companies aren’t just the messengers – they are also profiting, pulling in significant ad revenue from scammers.
“The Global Anti-Scam Alliance report in 2025 also noted that Gmail, Facebook and Instagram were most frequently associated with scams,” he said. “X, Snapchat and Telegram were cited as the slowest to respond to scam reports.”
The report encourages lawmakers to increase the liability of social media platforms, shut down data brokers, improve reporting mechanisms and do more to regulate generative AI.
