Americans lost $3.5 billion to investment scams in just the first half of this year, with Florida residents among the biggest victims, according to FBI data.
Pump-and-dump stock scams have spiked 300% this year compared to last year, according to the FBI, leaving countless victims with devastating financial losses.
In these scams, fraudsters artificially hype up shares to trick people into buying. Then they dump the stock once prices go up, leaving victims holding worthless investments.
Victims paid scammers $939 million in cryptocurrency alone during the first six months of 2025, representing a massive $261 million increase from the same period last year.
Nevada, Arizona and Florida top the list of states most likely to fall victim to investment scams, with an average of 199 reports per one million residents.
Here in Florida, our neighbors are especially vulnerable. According to a study by BrokerChooser, Florida residents lost $241 million to investment scams in the first six months of 2025, ranking third highest in the country.
Investment scams are the fifth most common type of fraud in the US, with 66,703 reports recorded in the first half of 2025 alone.
Experts say social media is now the top way scammers contact victims. The most common red flag phrases used in Meta scam ads include "Visit Instagram profile," "Send WhatsApp" and "Join Telegram" as scammers try to bypass platform moderation.
With US searches for "how to get rich quick" soaring by 110% over the past week, experts warn that urgent action is needed from authorities to protect people from losing money to scammers.
"Losses from investment scams have been on a clear upward trajectory over the past years," said Balazs Faluvegi, Senior Analyst from BrokerChooser.
Faluvegi said states like Nevada have consistently ranked among the top three for reports per capita for five consecutive years since 2020, a pattern likely to persist into 2026 unless stronger measures are implemented.
"With the rise of cryptocurrency, scammers can move large sums of money quickly and with limited traceability, which explains why so much is lost and why perpetrators often go undetected," Faluvegi said.
"AI will most probably continue to advance rapidly into 2026 and scams are only going to become more sophisticated. Urgent action is needed from authorities to raise awareness and tighten protections to protect investors from being a victim of these dubious scams."
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