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Thanks, AI: A new study by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is once again reminding everyone that internet users are losing significant amounts of money to online scams. In fact, the losses are so substantial that the "official" figures provided by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) significantly underestimate the true damage inflicted on the US economy.
According to official IC3 data, US internet users reported losing around $20.9 billion to all types of online scams and cybercrimes in 2025 alone. Losses grew by 25% year over year, but they still represent only a fraction of a much broader – and far more troubling – picture. CFA applied a 7.1x multiplier to official IC3 reports, estimating that the true cost of online fraud could reach around $148.2 billion.
CFA based its methodology on an underreporting analysis from a 2017 Bureau of Justice survey. The survey found that only around 14% of financial fraud victims actually contacted federal authorities. The 7.1x multiplier applied to official IC3 data is even considered a conservative estimate, CFA said, as other studies suggest reporting rates could be much lower (around 4 – 5%) and that the real financial impact could be 20 to 25 times higher.
