The FTC says Americans lost at least $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025 - Engadget

Cryptocurrency and AI scams hit Americans hard last year too. Americans lost at least $2.1 billion in 2025 to scams that originated on social media, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That figure marks an eightfold increase since 2020. The FTC said Americans reported losing $1.1 billion last year to investment scams that started on social media. These often began with a post or ad offering a program that claimed to help people learn how to invest. More than 40 percent of Americans who lost money through a social media scam last year blamed shopping-related ads, many of which took them to "unfamiliar websites," the FTC said. The agency also highlighted the problem of romance scams that start on social media. Most of these scams started on Facebook, with WhatsApp and Instagram in "a distant second and third," the FTC noted. A lawsuit filed against Meta, which owns all three platforms, last week claimed that it misled users about scam ads. In 2025, it was reported that Meta was making billions of dollars from ads promoting scams and illegal products. Of course, other types of internet scams are snaring regular folks. The FBI said earlier this month that Americans reported losi