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Rise in Financial Losses from Social Media Scams
Comparison of financial losses reported to the FTC between 2020 and 2025.
Primary Sources
Consumers lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, FTC reports
Image Credits:Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto / Getty Images 12:09 PM PDT · April 27, 2026 Americans lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, according to a new report from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency reports that losses from social media scams have increased eightfold, and that social media scams resulted in higher losses than any other method scammers used to contact consumers. Nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to scams said the schemes began on social media. More people reported losing money to scams that originated on Facebook than on any other social media platform, with WhatsApp and Instagram ranking a distant second and third. Additionally, people reported losing far more money to scams on Facebook alone than they reported losing to text or email scams. FTC’s data shows that social media scams take many forms, including shopping scams, which were the most reported type of social media scam last year. Over 40% of people who lost money to social media scams said they ordered an item they saw in an ad, ranging from clothing and cosmetics to car parts and even puppies. Many of these ads led to unfamiliar websites, while others sent people to fake sites for well-known brands that claimed to offer big discounts. Another common type of social media scam involves investment schemes that begin with ads or posts offering to teach people how to invest. Other scammers pose as friendly advisors or create WhatsApp groups filled with fake testimonials. These types of investment scams led to $1.1 billion in losses. Additionally, nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on a social media platform. Scammers often tailor their pitch to match a person’s profile and later invent a crisis that requires money. Or, they casually offer investment advice to lure them onto a fake investment platform. The FTC advises that users can protect themselves from social media scams by limiting who can see their posts and contacts, never allowing someone they met online to direct their investment decisions, and carefully vetting products before making a purchase by researching the company and searching the name alongside the terms “scam” or “complaint.” Topics When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom ...
FTC: Americans lost over $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned of a massive increase in losses from social media scams since 2020, exceeding $2.1 billion in 2025. According to reports to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network, all age groups (except those 80 and over, who were mainly targeted via phone calls) lost more money to scams originating on Facebook than to any other social media platform. Reports linked to WhatsApp and Instagram were distant second and third, and people reported losing far more money to Facebook scams alone than to text or email scams combined. In all, as the Commission found, almost one in three Americans who lost money to scammers last year were contacted via a social media platform. "In 2025, nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam said that it started on social media, with reported losses reaching a staggering $2.1 billion. Social media scams produced far more in losses—an eightfold increase since 2020—than any other contact method used by scammers to reach consumers," the FTC warned today. "Social media creates easy access to billions of people from anywhere in the world, making a scammer's job easier at very little cost. Scammers may hack a user's account, exploit what a user posts to figure out how to target them, or buy ads and use the same tools used by real businesses to target people by age, interests or shopping habits." 2025 top fraud methods by total reported loss (FTC) In response to this wave of scams targeting social media in general and its users in particular, Meta introduced new anti-scam protections across WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger last month. Among these new tools, Meta is testing warnings that flag suspicious Facebook friend requests based on signals such as a profile location that doesn't match the user's region or a small number of mutual connections. It rolled out another set of tools in October to help users detect potential scams more easily, including a more advanced scam-detection system for suspicious chats that will warn when a new contact sends a potentially scammy message. Meta also introduced new WhatsApp warnings that alert users to only share their screen with people they trust when starting video calls with unknown contacts. In August, WhatsApp also added a security feature designed to help users spot potential scams when being added to a group chat by unknown contacts. Meta removed over 159 million scam ads and took down over 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram l...
Social Media Scams Surge: FTC Reports $2.1 Billion in Losses by 2025
The $2.1 billion in reported losses in 2025 alone reflects a dramatic rise from previous years. In 2020, the FTC recorded just $258 million in losses tied to social media scams, meaning the figure has grown more than eight times in just five years.
FTC says social media scams cost consumers $2.1 billion in 2025
According to the report, Facebook accounted for the highest reported losses among social media platforms in 2025, followed by WhatsApp and Instagram. Losses tied to Facebook alone exceeded those reported from scams conducted via text or email.
