U.S. Fraud and Identity Theft Losses Topped $12.7 Billion in 2024

Fraud Statistics

In 2024, the most common of the 10 categories of fraud complaints defined by the FTC involved imposter scams. In this type of scam, a criminal claims to represent a trusted organization, such a business or a government agency, to trick victims into transferring money or disclosing personal information.

More than 847,000 imposter scam complaints were filed in 2024, a decrease of 1% from the number reported in 2023.

The second most common category of fraud reported in 2024 was online shopping scams, including failure to deliver items purchased through online retailers or auctions. This category had more than 386,000 complaints—an increase of 1.8% compared with 2023.

Investment-related scams involving bogus seminars or opportunities to invest in stocks, precious metals, art, coins or other investment vehicles ranked fourth with a total of 121,064 complaints filed in 2024. However, that category had the highest proportion of cases involving monetary losses (79%) and the greatest total financial losses of any category, at more than $5.8 billion, an increase of more than 20% from 2023. Median losses per case from investment-related scams were also the greatest of any category, at $8,000, up 17% from 2023.

Source: FTC

Identity Theft Statistics

The FTC and affiliated agencies fielded 1,135,270 complaints of identity theft in 2024, which is 9.5% more than the 1,036,845 logged in 2023.

The most common form of identity theft was hijacked and newly opened bogus credit card accounts. This category prompted 449,076 complaints in 2024, an increase of 7.8% from 448,466 in 2023.

The identity theft category that saw the largest increase in the number of complaints for 2024 involved other identity theft that wasn't directly attributed to a major category. These accounted for 359,008 complaints for the year, a 38% increase over the 260,808 reports fielded in 2023.

Source: FTC

How Scammers Engage Victims

Most of the fraud complaints made to the FTC and affiliated agencies in 2024 (57%) specified the communication channel criminals used to connect with their victims.

The most widely used method, email, was cited in 371,664 reports and led to median financial losses of $600 per victim.

Phone calls were the second most widely cited engagement method, with 284,651 cases. However, phone calls had the highest noted median financial loss, at $1,500 per victim.

Source: FTC

Identity Theft Statistics by State

Ranked by number of complaints filed per 100,000 residents, Florida was first among states and U.S. territories in 2024, with 528—or a total of 115,842 complaints for the year—up nearly 24% from 2023.

Georgia ranked second with 517 complaints per 100,000 residents, or a total of 55,954 for the year—roughly 15% more than the 48,614 complaints logged there in 2023.

Rounding out the ranks of the top five states for ID theft complaints by population were Washington, D.C.; Nevada; and Texas.

2024 Identity Theft Complaints By State

How Quickly Can You Tell if Your Identity Was Stolen?

The 2024 Consumer Impact - Business Impact Report from the nonprofit Identity Theft Research Center (ITRC) surveyed a random sampling of the 9,213 identity fraud victims who sought help from the ITRC between July 2023 and July 2024, as well as a representative sampling of U.S. consumers who reported being victims of identity theft but did not consult the ITRC.

Asked how long it took to resolve their identity fraud issues:

• A small portion of victims (12%) who consulted the ITRC reported resolving their issues within one week.
• Nearly half (48%) of ITRC victims reported issues were still unresolved as many as 12 months after their discovery.

In contrast, among victims who did not consult the ITRC:

• Nearly half (48%) who reported it took less than a week to resolve their issues.
• Few (14%) were still resolving their issues months after discovering them.

What Should You Do if You're an Identity Theft Victim?

If you believe you are a victim of identity theft, it's important to act as quickly as possible to stem potential damage. The following steps are a good way to begin:

1. Report the fraud. Submit a report about the theft to the FTC's IdentityTheft.gov website or call the FTC's toll-free hotline at 877-438-4338.
2. Protect your credit. You have the right to place a fraud alert or security freeze on your credit reports. A fraud alert asks lenders to verify your identity before processing new credit applications. A security freeze, also known as a credit freeze, restricts the use of your credit report and effectively blocks all new credit applications (including legitimate ones you may wish to make) until you suspend it.
3. Contact financial institutions and lenders you work with. If fraudulent accounts have been created in your name, alert existing lenders and banks so they know to look for indicators of additional theft or fraud.
4. Review bank and credit card statements carefully after discovering fraud or identity theft. Unfamiliar transactions and even small discrepancies could indicate criminal activity. You should report them immediately to trigger a bank investigation.
5. If necessary, notify the IRS. If you are the victim of tax-related ID theft, such as someone filing your tax return in your name to fraudulently collect your refund, contact the IRS as quickly as possible.

How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Proven measures for protecting yourself from identity theft include the following:

• Secure electronic devices. Activate automatic screen lock on your cellphone, tablet or laptop and activate face or fingerprint recognition, if available, to prevent criminals from accessing your device if they get their hands on it.
• Use multifactor authentication. Take advantage of this security measure if it's offered by financial institutions, health care providers and other companies you trust with your personal and fiscal information. Multifactor authentication adds a step to your account login process—typically requiring entry of a code sent to your phone—but can be very effective in thwarting digital break-in attempts.
• Use a password manager. Using and reusing passwords that can be easily guessed, or that have been stolen and shared by criminals on the hidden dark web, puts your personal accounts at risk. A password manager can be used to generate and store highly secure passwords that no one could easily guess (or remember), which can help you keep your accounts locked down.
• Check credit reports regularly. Reviewing your credit reports on a regular basis can help you spot suspicious activity, such as accounts you don't recognize and unfamiliar hard inquiries, which may indicate criminals are trying to apply for credit in your name. You can get your Experian credit report for free anytime, and free credit reports from all three national credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com.
• Don't store credit card information online. Data breaches that expose customer data, including credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, have become an all too regular occurrence. Saving your credit card information for future checkouts can increase the risk that your information will be stolen.
• Consider identity theft protection. Monitoring services such as those included with an Experian premium membership can alert you to activity on your credit reports and financial accounts so you can detect potential fraud early and take quick action.

The Bottom Line

Fraud and identity theft remain major concerns in the U.S., with related financial losses in 2024 reaching an all-time annual high of $12.7 billion. Awareness and preparation are your best defenses against becoming a victim, and tools such as free credit monitoring from Experian can help you spot criminal activity and shut it down before it does lasting harm.