Spike in Phishing and Spoofing Losses Raises Alarm Bells

Phishing and spoofing scams once again topped Fraud.org’s annual list in 2025—and the numbers are alarming. This report analyzes 1,376 complaints submitted by scam victims across the United States. As a share of all complaints, phishing and spoofing reports surged 85.6% year over year—nearly doubling compared to 2024. Median losses more than doubled as well, rising from $1,000 to $2,060.

Investment scams—especially those involving cryptocurrency—remained the most financially devastating for victims. The median reported loss from investment scams was $30,000, far exceeding any other category. One likely driver behind the surge in phishing is the growing use of artificial intelligence by scammers. AI tools can generate more convincing emails, texts, and cloned voices, making fraudulent messages harder for consumers to detect and easier for criminals to scale.

In contrast, fake prize and sweepstakes scams declined sharply. As a share of complaints, these scams fell 64.5% year over year. Median losses also dipped modestly, from $1,000 in 2024 to $950 in 2025. Despite these shifts, the three most-reported scams in 2025 remained unchanged from 2024: phishing and spoofing, internet merchandise scams, and fake prizes/sweepstakes

Fraudulent Sweepstakes and Fake Prizes Are Again Top Scams

When criminals find a scam that works, they tend to stick with it. That was the case in 2024, when complaints involving fake sweepstakes and bogus gift offers were again the top scam category, making up over a third of all fraud reports (38.27%). Criminals running sweepstakes scams overwhelmingly relied on the telephone to reach potential victims, with 87% of reports indicating that a phone call was how the scam began. Phishing/spoofing scams (18.83% of reports) and Internet merchandise scams (17.04% of reports) rounded out the top three fraud categories for the second consecutive year.

Younger Consumers Increasingly Targeted

Older consumers (age 56 and above) continued to account for more than a third (37.94%) of Fraud.org complaints in 2025. However, younger adults are filing complaints at a faster rate. Millennials (approximately ages 26–45) represented 39.8% of complaints but were the fastest-growing age cohort. Complaints from consumers aged 26–35 rose 68.1% year over year, while those aged 36–45 increased 26.9%. The data suggest that while older consumers remain heavily impacted, scammers are broadening their reach—and younger adults are increasingly in the crosshairs