The losses suffered by Americans as a result of fraudulent bank transfers and payments have significantly increased over the past five years, according to government numbers.
Data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that US consumers lost $2.088 billion to fraudulent bank transfers and payments in 2024.
The amount is significantly higher than the figure recorded in 2020 when consumers reported losing $319.6 million to fraudulent bank transactions. The losses increased to $745.1 million in 2021, $1.58 billion in 2022 and $1.86 billion in 2023.
The most recent data from the FTC, which was published on March 7th, shows that in the first quarter of 2024, consumers lost $508.3 million via bank transfers or payments. The number slightly rose to $511.1 million in the third quarter and surged to $563.7 million in the last quarter of the year.
Fraudulent bank transfers or payments were the leading cause of financial losses among payment methods last year, far surpassing cryptocurrency transactions, which account for the second-highest amount of losses of about $1.42 billion in 2024, slightly up from $1.41 billion in 2023. Transactions by payments app or services was third with $391 million in losses.
The FTC says it shares fraud reports with over 2,800 law enforcers.
“We can’t resolve your individual report, but we use reports to investigate and bring cases against fraud, scams, and bad business practices.”
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