Reported losses to social media scams totaled $2.1 billion in 2025 according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), $200 million more than the previous year and about eight times more than the amount lost to social media fraud in 2020.

Facebook scams accounted for $794 million of the losses, with $425 million coming from WhatsApp, $234 million from Instagram, and the remaining amount from other platforms, the FTC reported in an April 27 news release. Types of fraud included:

• Investment Scams: $1.1 billion in reported losses came from social media users wiring funds to fake investment platforms, only to find out the investments didn’t exist. Some reported a second layer of loss when scammers offered to recover lost money for a fee.
  
  
• Romance Scams: Nearly $300 million in reported losses came from an array of scam types – fake profiles used to gain confidence before directing a user to a phony investment, for example, or to establish trust before requesting money to address a “crisis” or “emergency.”
  
  
• Business and Product Scams: Losses range from “task scams” that tempt users with compensation for low-level jobs to fake career listings to bogus housing opportunities to shopping scams pointing to counterfeit products … or items that were purchased but simply never showed up.

[RELATED: MOAA’s Scam and Fraud Prevention Resources]

More Types of Fraud

Reported losses from scams that began on a website or an app reached $1.1 billion in 2025, according to the FTC – the same figure as reported losses from phone calls. Text scams ($639 million) and email scams ($569 million) rounded out the list.

In 2024, military-connected consumers – servicemembers, veterans, and families – reported $548 million in scam losses. The wide majority of those reports came in two categories: Investment scams ($208 million) and impostor scams ($200 million).

Some impostors may present themselves as VA officials seeing information about a claim or promising access to a new benefit, only to steal a veteran’s personal data. Others could take advantage of a service connection and pose as a military member in financial crisis or as a military-friendly charity. These and other military-specific scams can make the service-connected community more vulnerable to fraud.

[RELATED: MOAA Members Save on Identity Theft Protection With Aura]

MOAA’s Scam and Fraud Prevention Resources page offers dozens of articles addressing multiple types of scams, but some general prevention tips apply in most any instance:

• Slow Down: Scammers rely on victims making quick decisions and ignoring red flags. If you’re asked to “act now” or “respond immediately,” push pause.
  
  
• Always Verify: Check out any suspicious engagements using trusted resources and confirmed contact information. Be wary of unsolicited emails, texts, calls, or social media messages – tech-savvy scammers may skirt caller identification software or design messages that appear to be from a charity or financial institution.
  
  
• Reality Check: If an investment promises unrealistic returns or a seller offers a deep discount on premium merchandise, don’t ignore the red flags.

Learn more about avoiding and reporting scams on the FTC website.