The Fed: Financial Scam Losses in the US Reached US$63 Billion in 2024

JAKARTA, Jakartaweekly.com — Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman said fraud and financial scams are becoming an increasingly serious threat to US households and the country’s financial system, with net consumer losses estimated at US$63 billion throughout 2024.

Speaking at the Women in Housing and Finance Symposium, Bowman said data from the 2025 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) showed that one in five adults in the United States experienced financial fraud or scams last year.

“In other words, that is equivalent to 21 percent of the adult population,” Bowman said on Thursday, May 7, 2026, as quoted from The Fed’s official website.

According to her, credit card fraud remains the most common type of fraud. However, the direct financial impact on consumers is relatively limited because losses are typically absorbed by card issuers.

In contrast, fraud involving bank accounts, investment accounts, and other financial products is considered far riskier because such cases do not always come with automatic protection or guaranteed fund recovery.

Bowman said around 8 percent of US households experienced fraudulent activity involving financial products other than credit cards.

The Federal Reserve recorded total losses from non-credit card fraud across the US financial system at US$84 billion in 2024. Of that amount, only around US$21 billion was successfully recovered.

“Net consumer losses are estimated at US$63 billion,” she said.

Based on the SHED survey, the median loss suffered by fraud victims reached US$500 before any recovery. Even after partial reimbursement, around half of victims still experienced financial losses.

Bowman highlighted the severe impact of fraud on low-income households and financially vulnerable groups. She noted that around 13 percent of Americans do not have US$400 in cash available for emergency expenses.

“For financially vulnerable households, fraud losses can quickly escalate from an inconvenience to a crisis affecting their ability to cover essential expenses,” she said.

She also stressed that fraud threats now cut across all demographic groups. Although adults aged 45 and older are more likely to become victims, largely due to higher credit card usage, the data showed fraud incidence rates were relatively similar across income levels, races, ethnicities, and genders.

“No individual is truly insulated from these threats,” Bowman said.

According to her, the growing prevalence of fraud is beginning to erode public trust in the banking and financial system. The Federal Reserve noted that more than half of non-credit card fraud cases involved bank accounts, while bank transfers and payments accounted for nearly 40 percent of total fraud losses in 2024.

Bowman said criminals are exploiting vulnerabilities in payment systems, authentication processes, and security technologies used by financial institutions.

At the same time, US banks have increased investments in security systems and consumer education. However, fraud cases continue to rise alongside the emergence of new technologies and increasingly sophisticated financial crime schemes.

“Many fraud operations are conducted from overseas scam centers beyond the reach of US law enforcement, making them difficult to combat,” Bowman said.

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