President Trump announces ‘war on fraud’ in 2026 State of the Union address
President Donald Trump announced a “war on fraud” in his State of the Union address, saying Vice President J.D. Vance would lead the charge.
- What form of fraud occurs most often? Someone pretends to be someone else—FBI, FTC, IRS, your bank, your grandchild, the new love of your life.
- The Federal Trade Commission said the spike in lost dollars may be due to a “sudden increase in consumers reporting large losses of $100,000 or more.”
The billions of dollars lost to fraud continue to add up.
Fraudsters and fraudsters stole a record $15.9 billion through various scams in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024, according to the latest data from the Federal Trade Commission.
According to the FTC, the largest number of losses in 2025 ($7.9 billion, nearly half of all reported losses) involved some type of investment fraud.
Lois Greisman, associate director of the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices, made these bombshell statements in testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, March 25th.
In his testimony, Greisman noted that reported fraud losses have increased by nearly 430% since 2020.
Greisman said the FTC will receive 3 million fraud reports from consumers in 2025, a significant increase from the 2.6 million fraud reports it received in 2024.
Scammers trick us into pretending to be someone else
What form of fraud occurs most often? Someone pretends to be someone else—FBI, FTC, IRS, your bank, your grandchild, the local sheriff, the new love of your life.
The FTC has received more than 1 million reports of identity fraud, and consumers have reported losses of more than $3.5 billion.
How do scammers reach out?
Often via a simple text message, this was the top contact method reported by consumers when they identified a connection to a scammer in the 2025 Fraud Report.
Social media is said to be the most common communication method for reported losses. In 2025, consumers reported more than $2 billion in total losses claiming fraud started on social media.
In a June 2025 warning, the FTC warned that if a new friend you met on social media asks you for money, it’s often a complete scam.
“When asking for money, these scammers often offer instructions on how to send the money,” according to a previous FTC warning. “People are reporting that scammers have instructed them to transfer money through companies like Western Union or MoneyGram, send a number on a gift card, use a payment app, or send cryptocurrency.”
Although the testimonies do not specifically mention Bitcoin ATMs such as those at grocery stores or liquor stores, consumers continue to be told by scammers to withdraw cash from their bank accounts and deposit it at a Bitcoin ATM near their home. That money then often ends up in the hands of criminals forever.
For example, in March, a 55-year-old woman told police she received a call at work from someone claiming to be a sergeant with the local sheriff’s office.
The scammers told her she had missed a jury trial and had two warrants for her arrest, among other false claims.
The woman was then told she needed to go to the bank to withdraw money to serve the warrant. “The victim was instructed to deposit money into a local Bitcoin machine and did so before realizing it was a scam,” according to the police report.
Consumer watchdog groups say consumers have become more willing to report losses due to fraud in recent years. As scams increase across the country, perhaps people are becoming less aware that they are actually the only ones losing their hard-earned cash in this town to fake text messages, fake ads, and scammers.
But some people are losing far more money than you can imagine.
Some people lose more than $100,000 to fraud
Unfortunately, some people are losing large chunks of their retirement nest eggs due to ongoing and sophisticated fraud.
Greisman said the spike in losses could also be due to “a surge in consumers reporting large losses of $100,000 or more.”
According to the FTC, in 2025, consumers reported the highest total losses from sending money to scammers via bank transactions, followed by cryptocurrencies. Credit card payments were most commonly identified in fraud reports.
Greisman said reported fraud losses represent only a fraction of actual losses because not all consumers who lose money to fraud report it to the FTC or one of the FTC’s many data sources.
The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network includes reports the FTC receives from approximately 180 data sources, including other government agencies, industry members, and consumer organizations.
The FTC estimates that the total cost of fraud to consumers in 2024 could reach $195.9 billion, accounting for underreporting.
The FTC said it is working with international trade organizations to track down fraudsters based overseas. Many efforts include targeting U.S.-based companies and others that illegally facilitate fraudulent fraud schemes.
For example, the FTC filed a law enforcement settlement last year against Paddle, a British payment processing company that operates in the United States through a U.S. subsidiary. According to the FTC, Paddle was involved in collecting payments on behalf of an alleged tech support fraudster operating out of Cyprus.
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompol: stompor@freepress.com. follow himr X @tompor.
