FTC

More than 40% of people who lost money to a scam on social media said it started when they ordered something they’d seen in an ad

$1.1 billion, more than half the money reported lost to scams initiated on social media, was to investment scammers.

Nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on a social media platform.

In 2025, nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam said it started on social media

Reported losses for social media scams reached $2.1 billion in 2025. This is about eight times the 2020 figure.

Social media was the most costly fraud contact method last year in terms of aggregate reported losses for every age group under 80, and ranked second after phone calls for those 80 and over.

In 2025, people reported more money lost to scams that started on Facebook than on any other social media platform. WhatsApp and Instagram were a distant second and third.

One in three people who reported losing money to a job or business opportunity scam in 2025 said it started on social media.

In 2025 people reported far more money lost to scams on Facebook alone than they reported losing to text or email scams.