2026 Phone Scam Statistics: The Definitive Hub

This page tracks every meaningful statistic about phone scams in 2026, with sources cited inline and update timestamps for each section. Last updated: April 22, 2026. We update this page monthly with new data from the FBI IC3 report, FTC Consumer Sentinel Network, AARP, BBB Scam Tracker, and Pew Research surveys.

Headline statistics (most-cited)

• $16.6 billion lost to scammers in the United States in 2024 across all categories. (Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3, 2024 Internet Crime Report)
• $4.9 billion stolen from Americans aged 60+ in 2024. (Source: FBI IC3 Elder Fraud Report 2024)
• 101,068 elder fraud complaints filed with the FBI in 2024, a 14% increase year over year. (Source: FBI IC3 Elder Fraud Report 2024)
• 41% of all consumer scams in 2024 originated with a phone call. (Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network)
• 2× the phone-scam rate for seniors aged 80+ vs. younger seniors. (Source: FTC)
• $33,915 average loss per elder fraud victim in 2024, the highest of any age group. (Source: FBI IC3)
• $5,950 median loss per elder fraud victim. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Tech support scams were the #1 cause of elder fraud loss in 2024 at $982 million. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Investment scams caused $5.6 billion in total losses across all ages in 2024, much of it through cold-call first contact. (Source: FBI IC3)

By scam type

Government impersonation (IRS, Social Security, Medicare)

• $405 million lost to government impersonation scams in 2024. (Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel)
• The IRS does not call taxpayers about back taxes. Every IRS call is a scam.
• The Social Security Administration does not call to threaten benefits or arrest. Every such call is a scam.
• Medicare does not cold-call beneficiaries to verify cards or offer free equipment. Every such call is a scam.
• Most common payment method demanded: gift cards (Apple, Google Play, Target), wire transfer, and cryptocurrency.

Tech support scams

• $982 million lost in 2024, the largest single category of elder fraud. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Average loss: $14,000 per victim.
• Typical attack: unsolicited call (or pop-up that triggers a call) claiming the victim's computer is infected. Caller requests remote access to the victim's computer, then either installs malware or convinces the victim to wire money to "secure" their accounts.
• Microsoft and Apple never make unsolicited calls about computer problems.

Grandparent scams (family emergency)

• $2,700 average loss per grandparent scam victim, with cases ranging up to $50,000+ for sustained extraction. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Increasingly using AI voice cloning to make the "grandchild's" voice sound real. As little as 3 seconds of audio from social media is enough to clone a voice.
• Typical attack: late-night call from someone claiming to be a grandchild in jail, in a car accident, or kidnapped. Demands secrecy from parents and immediate payment via wire, gift card, or cash courier.
• Defense: establish a family code word that real family members know.

Romance scams

• $1.14 billion lost to romance scams in 2024, with an average loss per victim of $4,400. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Adults 60+ are the highest-loss demographic for romance scams.
• Typical first contact: social media direct message, dating app match, or phone call from a "wrong number" that becomes a conversation.
• Median duration of a successful romance scam: 6 months from first contact to first money transfer.

Lottery and sweepstakes scams

• $102 million lost to prize and lottery scams in 2024. (Source: FBI IC3)
• You did not win a lottery you did not enter. Period.
• No legitimate lottery requires upfront payment of "taxes" or "processing fees" before paying out a prize.

Medicare and health insurance scams

• $1.6 billion annually lost to Medicare fraud (across all attack vectors, including phone). (Source: Department of Health and Human Services)
• Common attack: caller offers "free" medical equipment (back braces, knee braces, diabetic supplies) in exchange for the victim's Medicare number.
• Defense: Medicare numbers are as sensitive as Social Security numbers. Never give them to an inbound caller.

Investment scams

• $5.6 billion lost to investment scams in 2024 across all ages, much initiated by cold call. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Cryptocurrency is now the most common payment method for investment scams.
• "Pig butchering" scams (long-form trust-building leading to fake crypto investment) are the fastest-growing variant.

By demographic

Age

Source: FBI IC3 2024 Internet Crime Report

Gender

• Women report 60% of elder fraud cases by count, but men report 55% of total dollar losses (men tend to lose more per scam, particularly in investment scams). (Source: FBI IC3)

Geography

• Top 10 states by elder fraud loss in 2024: California, Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts. (Source: FBI IC3)
• Per-capita rates: Florida and Arizona have disproportionately high elder fraud per capita due to high senior populations.

By attack vector

Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024

Phone scam call volume

• Americans receive an estimated 50 billion robocalls per year. (Source: YouMail Robocall Index)
• About 30% of those are scam calls (the rest are telemarketing, political, or legitimate notifications).
• The average American receives 5–10 scam calls per week. Seniors with numbers on "sucker lists" can receive 30+ per day.

Recovery and reporting

• Less than 5% of scammed funds are ever recovered.
• Less than 15% of phone scam victims report to authorities, and shame is the primary reason. (Source: AARP Fraud Watch)
• The National Elder Fraud Hotline (1-833-FRAUD-11 / 1-833-372-8311) is the single best place to start a recovery process.
• The FTC's reportfraud.ftc.gov is the canonical place to file a federal report.

Carrier-level data

• STIR/SHAKEN, the FCC-mandated caller ID authentication framework, has been fully required since June 2021, but scammers continue to spoof caller IDs successfully because international and small-carrier loopholes persist.
• Apple, Google, and Microsoft all offer some form of native call screening on their platforms, but none use real conversational AI to screen unknown callers. They rely on blocklist matching and user-reported numbers.

How AI is changing the scam landscape (the new frontier)

• Voice cloning is now possible from 3-15 seconds of audio. Scammers harvest audio from social media (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube comments) to clone family members' voices for grandparent scams.
• Generative text scams are dramatically increasing the scale and sophistication of romance scams and pig butchering.
• Defense: AI-versus-AI is now the only viable defense. Scammer Guardian uses GPT-4o-class models to detect AI-generated voices and AI-scripted scam patterns.

Sources cited on this page

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): 2024 Internet Crime Report and 2024 Elder Fraud Report. https://www.ic3.gov
• FTC Consumer Sentinel Network: 2024 Data Book. https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/consumer-sentinel-network
• AARP Fraud Watch Network: annual scam tracking and survey data. https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/
• Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker: real-time consumer-reported scam data. https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker
• YouMail Robocall Index: monthly U.S. robocall volume estimates. https://robocallindex.com
• Department of Health and Human Services: Medicare fraud statistics. https://www.hhs.gov

How this page is maintained

This page is updated monthly with the latest data from the sources above. Each statistic is dated and sourced. If you find a stat that has been superseded by newer data or believe a stat is incorrect, email corrections@scammerguardian.com.

For media use of these statistics, attribution is appreciated but not required when citing the original primary sources. When citing this page directly, please link to scammerguardian.com/scam-statistics-2026.

Page version: 1.0

Last updated: April 22, 2026

Next scheduled update: May 22, 2026