The most reported scams, and the signs they share

In 2025, people reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams, nearly three times as much as in 2020. Nearly one in three fraud reports that year were about imposters, the most of any category. Reported losses to fraud of every kind were about $16 billion, the highest on record.

Who the imposters pose as

People reported losing nearly $1 billion to business impersonators in 2025, with the highest losses tied to scammers posing as banks. Government impersonators took about $920 million, up from $789 million in 2024. Scammers reach people by text, phone, email, social media and search engine results, and they often talk people into moving money to "protect" it.

The signs of a government imposter

• Contact out of the blue. A call, email, text or social media message comes from someone who says they're with an agency, sometimes with an "employee ID number" to sound official.
• Pressure to act now. The caller threatens that something bad will happen, or that you'll lose a benefit.
• A request for money or personal information. Government agencies will never call, email, text or message you on social media to ask for either.
• A caller ID that looks right. Caller ID can be faked, so don't trust it.

The payment methods they ask for

Don't wire money or use gift cards, cryptocurrency or a payment app to pay someone who says they're with the government. No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy a gift card to pay them. Gift card scams goes through that one in detail.

An annotated example

What to do next

Save your bank's customer service number from the back of your card, and use it whenever a message claims to be from the bank. Agree with your household that nobody pays anyone with a gift card, a wire or cryptocurrency because a caller says to.