In numbers
Where the money actually goes: fraud losses by category
English version for the United States.
Two lists exist and they disagree. The list of what happens most often is led by small purchases, and the list of where money is actually lost is led by investment offers. Reading the wrong list produces the wrong precautions.
01The scale, from the published reports
For 2025 the FBI's complaint center recorded 1,008,597 complaints and almost 21 billion dollars in losses, a quarter more than the year before. The FTC, counting differently and more broadly, recorded 3 million reports and 15.9 billion dollars.
The two bodies count different things, so the totals are not comparable and the shares inside them are what matter. Both show the same shape: a small number of categories carries most of the money.
02Investment offers carry the losses
Investment fraud accounted for 8.648 billion dollars in the FBI figures for 2025, more than forty per cent of everything reported. No other category comes close, and about half of all reported losses were connected to cryptocurrency.
The reason is structural rather than psychological. An investment scheme has no natural ceiling: the same person can be brought back repeatedly, each time for more, because the displayed balance keeps growing and withdrawing it requires one more payment.
| Category | Reported losses | What it responds to |
|---|---|---|
| Investment fraud | 8.648 billion dollars, over 40% of all losses | Refusing to act inside the conversation |
| Business email compromise | 3.046 billion dollars | Voice confirmation of changed details |
| Impersonation | 3.5 billion dollars in the FTC data | Knowing what the named body actually does |
| Purchase scams | Largest by number of cases | A reversible payment method |
| Marked as AI-involved | About 900 million dollars | Treating voice as impression, not proof |
03Business email compromise is second, and it is quiet
Losses to business email compromise reached 3.046 billion dollars. It produces very few reports relative to its size, because each event is large and involves an organization rather than a person.
It is also the category where the defense is a written rule rather than a habit: changed bank details are confirmed by voice on a number held beforehand. Nothing else in the category responds to advice.
04What the AI column shows, and what it hides
For the first time the 2025 report carries a formal marker for cases involving artificial intelligence: over 22,000 complaints and roughly 900 million dollars. Against 21 billion in total, that looks minor.
It is more likely a measure of what victims noticed. Of the eight billion lost to investment schemes, only 632 million was flagged as AI-involved, which says that generated material is recorded when it is obvious and missed when it works.
05What one person should take from this
Counts and losses point at different defenses. The frequent, cheap events are purchases, and they are answered by the payment method: use a route somebody other than the seller can reverse.
The rare, expensive events are investment offers and altered payment details, and they are answered by procedure: no money moves on the strength of a conversation, and no changed details are accepted without a call back on a number you already had.
06Questions and answers
Which fraud category loses the most money?
Investment fraud. In the FBI figures for 2025 it accounted for 8.648 billion dollars, more than forty per cent of all reported losses, with about half of total losses connected to cryptocurrency.
Why do the most common scams differ from the most costly?
Because they work differently. Purchase scams earn small amounts from many people, while investment schemes earn large amounts from few, which is why the list of frequency and the list of losses are led by different categories.
Is artificial intelligence behind most fraud now?
The 2025 report marks about 900 million dollars as AI-involved out of nearly 21 billion. That figure records what victims recognized, so it is a floor rather than a measurement.
Written by Ilia Zavialov, digital security consultant. Profile of Ilia Zavialov