The FBI’s latest internet crime report is out and the numbers are hard to ignore: more than a million complaints and billions in losses, and older Americans are getting hit especially hard. This article breaks down the key figures, where the money is going, how identity theft fits into the bigger fraud picture, and practical steps people can take to reduce risk.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 1,008,597 complaints last year, with reported losses approaching $20.9 billion. Those totals capture a wide array of schemes and show fraud is both widespread and increasingly costly.
One striking trend is the rising toll on older adults. Americans age 60 and older filed more than 200,000 complaints in 2025, reporting $7.7 billion in losses overall, the largest total of any age group. Within that cohort, identity-theft complaints numbered 5,359 with $48.5 million in losses, a sharp increase from the previous year.
Age groups behave differently in this data. People in their 30s and 40s filed more complaints overall, but the losses reported by older adults tend to be larger because their accounts often contain retirement money and long-term investments. A single successful fraud that touches a bank account or retirement fund can trigger a major loss.
The IC3 dataset is built on self-reported complaints from individuals and businesses across the country. Each submission notes transaction type, payment method, and estimated loss, and investigators aggregate that information to map where funds are flowing and which scams are gaining traction.
Identity theft shows up alongside other fraud types rather than as the single biggest loss driver. Often identity theft is the tactic scammers use to open a door into existing accounts, letting them pass security checks and move money. That role means identity theft can fuel larger schemes even when its own totals sit below the top categories.
Investment scams topped the 2025 list, with reported losses above $4.5 billion, followed by business email compromise at over $2.9 billion and tech support scams accounting for more than $1 billion. Those categories represent a big share of the broader damage the report tracks.
For older victims, identity theft complaints translated into $48.5 million in losses—roughly a 70% jump from 2024—highlighting how quickly the threat can escalate. These figures underline that identity theft remains a key ingredient in many of the most damaging frauds.
Other federal data reinforces the scale of the problem: the Federal Trade Commission receives more than a million identity theft reports each year. That volume makes identity theft one of the most frequently reported consumer harms, even if other scams show higher aggregate dollar losses.
Practical precautions matter because many successful scams rely on haste and confusion. Be skeptical when anyone asks for Social Security numbers, passwords, or account credentials through unsolicited calls or messages; banks and government agencies do not demand that information that way.
Urgency is a common red flag. Requests to move money quickly—especially via wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift cards—are frequent tactics used to get funds out before victims can react. Pausing to verify the source and purpose of a transfer often prevents a large loss.
If a message claims to be from your bank or a government office, use a phone number or web address you already know to confirm it before taking action. Relying on contact details included in the suspicious message is a classic way scammers trick people into cooperating.
Keeping a close eye on accounts pays off. Regularly scan bank and investment statements for unfamiliar transactions since small, odd charges can be the first sign of unauthorized access. Early detection gives you a better chance to freeze accounts and stop further drains.
Turn on two-factor authentication and account alerts wherever available because these tools add a meaningful barrier to unauthorized access. Alerts can notify you of changes as they happen, buying time to act if a fraudster attempts a transfer or login.
When identity theft does occur, the earliest signs are often a new account you did not open or an unexplained charge. Credit monitoring and identity-protection services can flag these events by tracking activity across credit files and financial accounts and highlighting new account openings.
Those services sometimes include identity theft insurance and fraud-resolution help that can assist in disputing unauthorized activity and coordinating with banks and credit bureaus. For older Americans who often hold larger balances, that support can speed recovery and limit long-term damage.
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If scammers only need one piece of your personal information to get started, how confident are you that yours isn’t already out there? That question is worth asking out loud and acting on before an unwanted alert becomes a crisis.
