Investment fraud emerged as the most financially devastating category of online scams in 2024, with victims reporting losses totaling over $6.5 billion according to the FBI's annual report.12 This represents a significant increase from previous years, continuing a troubling upward trend that saw investment scam losses reach $4.57 billion in 2023, which was already 18 times higher than the $253 million reported in 2018.3

Cryptocurrency-related investment schemes were particularly lucrative for scammers, with the FBI noting that these digital asset frauds accounted for a substantial portion of the total investment fraud losses.1 The Federal Trade Commission separately reported $5.7 billion in investment scam losses in their data, representing a 24% increase over the previous year.45 Victims typically lost substantial amounts, with the FBI receiving 47,919 investment fraud complaints in 2024, suggesting an average loss of approximately $135,000 per victim.67

Seniors over the age of 60 were disproportionately victimized by scammers in 2024, losing a staggering $4.8 billion according to the FBI's report released in April.12 This represents nearly 29% of all scam losses nationwide, despite seniors making up a smaller percentage of the population. The financial impact on older Americans marked a 43% increase from 2023, when seniors lost approximately $3.4 billion to similar schemes.34

The elderly were particularly vulnerable to investment scams, tech support fraud, and confidence/romance schemes, with the average senior victim losing approximately $83,000.3 People aged 50-59 experienced the second-highest losses at $2.5 billion.1 FBI officials noted these figures likely underrepresent the true scope of the problem, as many victims feel embarrassed to report being scammed.15 California, Texas, and Florida—states with large senior populations—reported the highest total losses.2

Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams continued to be one of the most financially devastating cybercrimes in 2024, accounting for $2.9 billion in losses according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).1 These sophisticated attacks, which involve criminals impersonating legitimate businesses or executives to request fraudulent wire transfers, have resulted in cumulative losses of nearly $55.5 billion over the past decade.2 The frequency of BEC attacks surged dramatically in 2024, representing 73% of all reported cyber incidents—a sharp increase from 44% in 2023.3

BEC scammers employ various tactics including email spoofing, spearphishing, and malware to infiltrate company networks and gain access to legitimate email threads about billing and invoices.4 The manufacturing sector saw a particularly concerning rise in BEC attacks, increasing from just 2% of targeted emails in Q1 to 10% in Q3 2024.5 Alarmingly, 40% of BEC emails detected in 2024 were AI-generated, making them increasingly difficult to identify as fraudulent.6 The FBI reports that BEC scams have been documented in all 50 states and 186 countries, with fraudulent transfers sent to over 140 countries, highlighting the global nature of this growing threat.7