FTC Reports $2.1 Billion Losses from Social Media Scams in 2025

Severity: High (Score: 67.5)

Sources: Techcrunch, Bleepingcomputer

Summary

In 2025, Americans reported losing over $2.1 billion to scams originating on social media, according to the FTC. This represents an eightfold increase in losses since 2020, with nearly 30% of scam victims indicating that their scams began on social media platforms. The most affected platforms were Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, with shopping scams being the most common type reported. Investment schemes and romance scams also contributed significantly to the losses, with investment scams alone accounting for $1.1 billion. The FTC's data highlights that social media scams have surpassed losses from email and text scams combined. In response, Meta has implemented new anti-scam measures across its platforms, including advanced scam detection systems and warnings for suspicious activities. The FBI reported over 1 million complaints related to cyber-enabled crimes in 2025, totaling nearly $21 billion in losses. To mitigate risks, the FTC advises users to limit visibility on their posts and to research companies before making purchases. Key Points: • Americans lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, an eightfold increase since 2020. • Nearly 30% of scam victims reported that their scams began on social media platforms. • Meta has introduced new anti-scam protections, removing over 159 million scam ads in 2025.

Key Entities

• Data Breach (attack_type)
• CWE-200 - Exposure of Sensitive Information (cwe)
• Instagram (platform)
• Messenger (platform)
• WhatsApp (platform)