Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, FRAUD AND MANIPULATION—House FSC release staff report on scams, (Jul 24, 2026)
The report contains data on fraud schemes that cross many federal agencies’ jurisdictions, although many of them have ties to banking or investment opportunities.
The House Financial Services Committee released a staff study detailing the myriad problems that can arise from fraud schemes, many of which touch on the banking and securities subject matter of the committee, but which also cross many federal agencies’ jurisdictions. A key finding in the report is that government enforcers should do more to share information and a create a cohesive approach to fraud that utilizes common terminology and destigmatizes fraud victimization.
The report took as its study period the roughly last four to five years. According to the report’s findings: “The prevalence of fraud and scams has continued to grow, reaching a high in 2025, with the FTC receiving over 3 million fraud reports from customers and a reported $15.9 billion in losses. These losses represent a 27.5 percent increase compared to reported losses in 2024, which was also a record-breaking year at the time. As compared to 2020, annual reported losses have increased approximately 430 percent. Since the FTC began tracking fraud, scams, and identity theft statistics in 1997, the number of annual reports has increased by a staggering 1,800 percent.”
“Financial fraud is one of the fastest-growing threats facing Americans, costing consumers and financial institutions billions of dollars each year,” said FSC Chair French Hill (R-Ark) in a press release announcing the report. “As fraudsters become more sophisticated, we must ensure law enforcement, regulators, and financial institutions have the tools they need to stay ahead of these evolving threats.”
Dan Meuser (R-Pa), Chair of the FSC’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, suggested that the report shows how fraud touches people from across all sociodemographic levels. “This report highlights the need for an all-of-ecosystem approach to include a coordinated government response,” said Meuser.
According to the report, the top ten fraud categories in 2025 were the following:
Imposter scams
Online shopping and negative reviews
Internet services
Business and job opportunities
Investment related
Telephone and mobile services
Health care
Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries
Travel, vacations and timeshare plans
Advance payments for credit services
Of these categories, which the report ranked by number of fraud reports, the two types of fraud generating by far the most total dollar losses were, in order, investment related scams ($7.9 billion) and imposter scams ($3.5 billion).
The data also suggested that although investment-related scams often spurred the most reports of losses (78 percent), the highest category by number of reports (imposter scams) only resulted in 20 percent of reports claiming losses. Other categories, for example, where loss reports were high, included: (1) online shopping and negative reviews (78 percent); (2) travel, vacations and timeshare plans (63 percent); (3) health care (55 percent); and (4) telephone and mobile services (44 percent).
The report also highlighted multiple actions taken by the private sector and the current Administration. One of the more significant private sector actions involves the use of “friction,” which is built into transactions to slow them down, preferably without altering consumer experiences, while employing brief delays and verification steps to ensure that consumers have time to consider transactions. The point is to carefully allow consumers to interact with offers but not push them to abandon mainstream payment systems for alternative payment systems.
The report also spotlighted numerous actions taken by the current Administration, including a series of executive orders, the creation of a new DOJ enforcement division, and the creation of a White House task force.
But despite some positive actions across the private and public sectors to curb fraud, significant hurdles remain, said the report. These include destigmatizing fraud victimization, enhancing consumer education about scams, strengthening reporting mechanisms, and promoting a unified government approach to combat fraud that uses common terminology and fosters greater sharing of information.
LegislativeActivity: AccountingAuditing BrokerDealers CommodityFutures Enforcement ExchangesMarketRegulation FedTracker Securities FinancialIntermediaries FraudManipulation GCNNews InvestorEducation RiskManagement SecuritiesOfferings