In 2024, Americans reported more than $12.5 billion in fraud losses.
As of 2025, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has identified the most common types of scams that consumers should be aware of.
Investment and crypto scams top the list of threats to Americans, ahead of job and romance scams, with social media being the #1 channel for reported financial losses.
Here’s a list of the riskiest scams in 2025.
The No. 1 riskiest scam type in the U.S. is investment/cryptocurrency scams, with a reported median dollar loss of $5,000, and 80.1% of reports with a monetary loss. Of those who reported an investment scam, 45.3% claimed the incident involved cryptocurrency, and 23.8% said the fraud was perpetrated by an online contact.
No. 2 was employment scams, with a median dollar loss of $1,500, and made up more than 14% of all reported scams.
In third place, romance and friendship scams rose to No. 3 for the first time in over five years. This scam had the highest median dollar loss ($6,099) of all scam types and is often linked to other scam types.
No. 4 is online purchases not being fulfilled.
No. 5 is home improvements by fake companies.
No. 6 is Phishing/ social engineering.
No. 7 is an advance fee loan.
No. 8 is travel/vacation/timeshares.
No. 9 is fake government grants.
No. 10 is fake tech support.
Which Americans are the most impacted?
Active-duty service members are the most vulnerable to scams, with 55.5% falling victim, followed by their spouses at 47.3% and veterans at 41.3%. They also face the highest median loss of $200. While veterans and non-military consumers are primarily targeted by investment and cryptocurrency scams, military spouses are most affected by employment and online purchase scams.
Demographic data shows that Americans aged 18–34 are most vulnerable to employment scams and online purchase fraud, while those aged 35 and older face the highest risk from investment and cryptocurrency scams. For older age groups, employment scams remain the second-biggest threat, right up until retirement.
BrokerChooser a global platform specializing in brokerage analysis, says scammers most commonly impersonate Publishers Clearing House, the U.S. Postal Service, and PayPal, with Amazon and Walmart also ranking among the top 10 most impersonated companies by scammers.
But according to the BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report², the likelihood of losing money to scams fell by 14.6% year-over-year. However, median losses surged 30%, indicating that while fewer Americans are getting scammed, those who do are losing significantly more.
