America


Fraud Epidemic Sweeps Nation


Veterans, investors targeted by new wave of sophisticated scams.


T BY VAN CHARLES


he federal trade commis- sion (FTC) reported fraud losses more than doubled between 2021 and 2025,


reaching a record $16 billion last year after coming in at just under $6 billion four years earlier. Among the top 10 categories of


fraud listed by the FTC, investors were bilked out of the most money at just over $8 billion, with the average per- son who reported a loss saying they were swindled out of $10,500. One group hit particularly hard


is the military community, which in 2025 suffered $684 million in losses to fraudsters. Among them was a 76-year-old


Marine and Vietnam War veteran with PTSD who was scammed out of nearly $35,000 on his birthday. Scammers posing as Apple support


and then Chase Bank representatives claimed his accounts were compro- mised in a racketeering/money-laun- dering scheme. They directed him to withdraw cash and hand it to a courier at a Wendy’s, then mail addi- tional funds. “It’s what I saved for a long time in retirement,” the veteran told a local TV station in California. “It’s some- thing that people my age want to look forward to and don’t want to depend on other people for.


AMERICA’S FRAUD EXPLOSION


$16 BILLION LOST TO FRAUD


$684 MILLION $8+ BILLION


FTC-reported fraud losses more than doubled from just under $6 billion in 2021 to a record $16 billion in 2025.


Lost to fraud by the military community in 2025. Lost to investment scams, the largest fraud category.


“What they’ve done has taken away


my dignity and my way of life, trusting people I don’t know.” Kevin Lilley, digital content man-


ager for the Military Officers Associa- tion of America, said service members are being targeted by scam- mers who claim to offer credit monitoring services, ironically, to protect them from scams. Instead, the scammers


use their information to open credit cards and lines of credit to quickly bleed them dry, including those about to deploy overseas. Already in 2026, investment-relat-


LILLEY


ed fraud has claimed nearly 54,000 victims who have lost $3.1 billion, according to the FTC’s website. Imposter scams have resulted in near- ly 470,000 reports with losses totaling $1.8 billion. While those continue to be the top categories noted by the FTC, they are far from alone. So far this year, online shopping has bilked people out of


Phony lotteries and sweepstakes have cost people more than $131 million, and internet service scams have resulted in some $65 million in losses.


32 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2026


nearly $250 million, and phony busi- ness and job opportunities have hit victims up for more than $300 million. Phony lotteries and sweepstakes


have cost people more than $131 mil- lion, and internet service scams have resulted in some $65 mil- lion in losses. The most frequent type


of fraud, the FTC said, is people impersonating businesses or banks, which account for nearly one in three.


Government imperson-


ators accounted for about $850 million in 2025, a sig-


nificant increase from the year before. Christopher Mufarrige, director of


the Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the FTC is doing everything in its power to crack down on both. “Consumers derive enormous ben-


efits from competitive markets built on truthful information. But fraud undermines that foundation, imped- ing the market process and prevent- ing markets from operating efficient- ly,” he said. “The FTC will use every tool


available to combat one of the most pernicious forms of fraud — govern- ment and business impersonation — and to protect the integrity of the digital economy.”


BANNER/PHILIP STEURY PHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK


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