According to the latest report of the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), social media fraud in 2025 had cost Americans $2.1 billion, an eightfold increase over 2020. Nearly 30 per cent of all victims of fraud reported to FTC in 2025 came from social media. The media platform under Meta is dominant, with Facebook taking the lead. Whatsapp and Instagram are second and third, respectively, but the gap is wider than Facebook.
FTC states: “In 2025, consumer pecuniary losses caused by fraud triggered by Facebook alone exceeded the sum of SMS or e-mail fraud.” Facebook cumulatively caused losses to users of $794 million, and the combined losses to Whitsapp and Instagram amounted to $629 million. There are three broad categories of social media scams: investment, shopping and love scams. Counter-intuitively, except for older persons over 80 years of age who are vulnerable to the trap of telephone fraud, other age groups may be targeted. FTC data show that false investment scams cost $1.1 billion. The victims were deceived by posts or advertisements claiming to provide investment guidance. Liars pretend to be “friendly financial advisers” or create “successful investors” fishing groups that induce consumers to invest in false projects.
In the area of shopping, 40 per cent of victims indicated that they had purchased commercials, ranging from clothing, cosmetics to car parts and even pet dogs. Such advertisements lead users to malicious websites and steal personal information. Some false websites claim to be able to provide substantial discounts on well-known brands. In the fall-in scheme, 60 per cent of victims indicated that they had started with social media. The typical method of fraud is that outlaws carefully package themselves on the basis of the victim ‘ s personal information. It creates crises and suppresses the remittances of victims. FTC provided some recommendations to avoid online fraud. First, there should never be a trust in the financial stewardship of people who are only known in social media, especially users of open accounts. Before talking to strangers you know in social media, you should first limit access to your posts and contacts through privacy settings. Restrictions must be placed on the information available to liars. In addition, the name of the search company was supplemented by a “fake” or “complaint” to verify the legality of the purchase of goods from online advertising.
