New federal data single out one channel as the costliest way scammers reach people’s wallets: social media. The Federal Trade Commission reported that in 2025, nearly 30% of people who told the agency they lost money to a scam said it started on a social media platform, with total reported losses of $2.1 billion, an eightfold increase since 2020. For anyone doing their shopping, following an investment tip, or catching up with family on Facebook or Instagram, the finding is a reminder that the platform itself has become part of the fraud story, not just the place scammers happen to find an audience. Social media now produces far more in reported losses than any other single way scammers make first contact, ahead of the phone calls, texts, and emails that used to dominate fraud reports.
Investment Scams on Social Media Cost More Than Half the Total
Of the $2.1 billion in social-media-linked losses, investment scams alone accounted for $1.1 billion, more than half. The FTC describes these schemes as often starting with an ad or a post offering a program that promises to teach people how to invest, sometimes escalating into a “friendly adviser” relationship or an invitation into a WhatsApp group full of supposed successful investors sharing testimonials that turn out to be fake. Because these schemes typically ask victims to move money into an unfamiliar trading app or crypto wallet, recovering the funds afterward is often far harder than reversing a disputed card charge. The FTC’s blunt advice on this category is to never let someone met only through a social media post or message direct an investment decision, no matter how convincing the group chat or the screenshots of supposed gains look.
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Facebook Losses Outpaced Text and Email Scams Combined
The FTC’s April release found that people reported losing more money to scams that started on Facebook than on any other social media platform, with WhatsApp and Instagram a distant second and third. In 2025, reported losses tied to Facebook alone exceeded reported losses to text-message and email scams combined, a comparison the agency called out specifically because those two contact methods have historically been the most common way scammers reach people. The shift suggests scammers are following attention: as more everyday communication and shopping activity moved onto social platforms, so did the fraud. Email had been the most commonly reported contact method for scams generally in recent years, with phone calls a close second, but the social-media figures released this spring show the dollar losses, not just the report volume, now tilting heavily toward the newer channel.
Shopping Ads Are the Most Reported Social Media Scam
Shopping scams were the single most reported type of social media fraud in 2025. More than 40% of people who lost money to a scam on social media said it started when they ordered something they had seen advertised, everything from clothing and makeup to car parts and even puppies, according to the agency. Many of the ads led to unfamiliar websites set up just to collect payment, while others impersonated well-known brands and advertised discounts steep enough to draw a click. The FTC’s advice here is simple: search a company’s name alongside the word “scam” or “complaint” before buying from an ad-driven storefront you don’t already know, and be skeptical of a steep discount that only shows up through a social media ad rather than the retailer’s own site. The agency’s consumer-facing blog post accompanying the data release walks through the same shopping-scam pattern in more detail, aimed at readers trying to spot a fake storefront before entering payment information.
Romance Scams and Who Social Media Puts at Risk
Romance scams also lean heavily on social media as the point of first contact. The FTC found that nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on a social media platform, with scammers often tailoring their approach to details pulled directly from a person’s profile before inventing a financial crisis or steering the relationship toward a fake investment opportunity. The age breakdown is notable, too: every age group except people 80 and older reported losing more money to scams that began on social media than to any other contact method, while for that oldest group, phone calls narrowly outranked social media as the costlier channel. The pattern lines up with how these relationships typically unfold: a scammer builds weeks or months of rapport through messages and calls before ever asking for money, then frames the request as a one-time emergency, a travel expense, or a chance to invest together, which is part of why romance-scam losses tend to run higher per victim than a quick imposter or shopping scam.
The FTC’s April 27, 2026 data spotlight attributes the platform’s outsized role to sheer reach: social media gives scammers low-cost access to billions of people worldwide, along with the same targeting tools legitimate advertisers use to reach people by age, interest, or shopping habit. That combination, the agency says, is what has pushed reported losses on social media to eight times where they stood in 2020, and why it now recommends tightening privacy settings on posts and contacts as a first line of defense.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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