Social media scams cost Americans over a $2.1 billion

 

Social media scams cost Americans over a $2.1 billion in 2025. The future looks even worse.

 

The US FTC says social media is the most dangerous channel for financial fraud, with Americans losing a record $2.1 billion in 2025. This surge represents a massive eightfold increase in losses, far outpacing the damage caused by traditional email or text-based scams. Roughly 30% of all reported fraud now originates on social networks, with Facebook leading as the primary source of financial loss, followed by WhatsApp and Instagram. At the same time, AI-generated imagery is getting eerily realistic, and it’s utterly easy to fake voices, too. The reports of crimes with deepfakes material is rising, and it seems there is little immediate respite in sight.