Identity fraud cost Americans $27.3 billion in 2025, striking 18 million victims (Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study). The broader picture is heavier still: US consumers reported a record $15.9 billion lost to fraud of all kinds (FTC, 2025 fraud data), while the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $20.9 billion in losses across more than one million complaints (FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report). Behind those totals sits a record 3,322 US data breaches feeding stolen credentials into new-account fraud, account takeover, and a fast-rising class of AI-assisted scams (ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report). This analysis consolidates data from the FTC, the FBI IC3, Javelin Strategy & Research, the Identity Theft Resource Center, and 11 other primary sources into one reference on where identity theft stands in 2026.
TL;DR
- US consumers reported a record $15.9 billion lost to fraud in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024 (FTC, 2025 fraud data).
- The FBI IC3 logged $20.9 billion in internet-crime losses across 1,008,597 complaints, up 26% (FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report).
- Identity fraud alone cost $27.3 billion and hit 18 million victims (Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study).
- Combined identity fraud and scams reached $38 billion, down $9 billion from 2024 (Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study).
- The FTC received more than 1.1 million identity theft reports in 2024, and 1.15 million in just the first three quarters of 2025 (FTC, 2024 Data Book; Motley Fool analysis of FTC data).
- US data compromises hit a record 3,322, a 79% rise over five years (ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report).
- Account takeover stayed the costliest fraud type at over $15 billion (Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study).
- AI-related fraud drew 22,364 complaints and $893 million in losses in the FBI’s first dedicated AI tally (FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report).
- As little as three seconds of audio can clone a voice, and 77% of people who got a cloned-voice message lost money (McAfee).
- Americans 60 and older reported about $7.7 billion in losses, up 37% year over year (FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report).
- Synthetic identity fraud exposed US lenders to $3.3 billion on open accounts (TransUnion).
- More than 20% of identity-crime victims lost over $100,000 in 2025 (ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report).
1. The 2025 US Fraud Scoreboard
The three big US datasets never match, because each counts a different slice: the FTC tallies consumer-reported fraud, the FBI IC3 counts internet crime, and Javelin models the whole economy including losses victims never report. Read together, they show the same shape. Even as the FTC’s 2025 fraud total set a record at $15.9 billion, Javelin found combined fraud and scam losses actually fell $9 billion year over year as several high-volume scam categories cooled. The money did not disappear; it concentrated into fewer, higher-value hits. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report put the average loss per complaint at $20,699.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total consumer fraud losses, 2025 | $15.9 billion (record) | FTC, 2025 fraud data |
| Fraud reports filed, 2025 | 3 million+ (up from 2.6M in 2024) | FTC, 2025 fraud data |
| Internet-crime losses, 2025 | $20.9 billion (+26% YoY) | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| IC3 complaints, 2025 | 1,008,597 | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| Identity fraud losses, 2025 | $27.3 billion | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Identity fraud + scam victims, 2025 | 36 million | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Top loss category (investment scams), 2025 | $7.9B (FTC) / $8.6B (FBI) | FTC / FBI IC3 2025 |
Outlier note: the FTC’s report count jumped from 2.6 million to over 3 million in a single year, so rising totals partly reflect more people reporting, not only more crime. For the wider threat context, see our cybersecurity statistics roundup.
2. What Identity Thieves Actually Do
Identity theft is not one crime but a menu, and the FTC’s report categories show which doors thieves prefer. Credit card fraud accounted for 43.9% of all identity theft in 2024, and roughly 90% of that credit card fraud involved opening brand-new accounts rather than misusing existing ones (FTC, 2024 Data Book; Motley Fool analysis of FTC data). New-account fraud is the engine because a fresh account carries no history to trip alarms. The pace is accelerating: identity theft reports in the first three quarters of 2025 already passed the full-year 2024 total. Full category detail lives in the FTC’s 2024 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identity theft reports, 2024 | 1.1 million | FTC, 2024 Data Book |
| Identity theft share of Sentinel reports, 2024 | 18% | FTC, 2024 Data Book |
| Credit card fraud share of identity theft, 2024 | 43.9% | FTC, 2024 Data Book |
| Miscellaneous identity theft share, 2024 | 32.4% | FTC, 2024 Data Book |
| Identity theft reports, first 3 quarters of 2025 | 1,157,317 (exceeds all of 2024) | Motley Fool analysis of FTC data |
| Credit card fraud reports, first 3 quarters of 2025 | 503,450 | Motley Fool analysis of FTC data |
| New-account share of credit card fraud | ~90% | Motley Fool analysis of FTC data |
Outlier note: Florida, Georgia, and Nevada filed the most identity theft reports per capita in 2024, per the FTC 2024 Data Book.
3. Data Breaches: The Raw Material
Every identity crime starts with data, and 2025 produced a paradox. The US logged a record 3,322 data compromises, a 79% rise over five years, yet the number of people notified fell to 278.8 million, the lowest since 2014 (ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report). The reconciliation is the absence of “mega-breaches”: in 2024 a handful of giant incidents pushed notices past 1.3 billion, so the drop reflects breach size, not a safer year. More organizations were hit more often, with financial services and healthcare absorbing the most incidents. The Identity Theft Resource Center publishes the underlying counts in its 2025 Annual Data Breach Report.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US data compromises, 2025 | 3,322 (record) | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Five-year change in compromises | +79% | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Victim notices, 2025 | 278.8 million (down from 1.37B in 2024) | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Most-breached industry, 2025 | Financial services (739 compromises) | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Healthcare compromises, 2025 | 534 | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Personal data breach complaints (IC3), 2025 | 67,456 | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
Outlier note: breached data does not stay idle; the same credentials fuel the account takeover and synthetic identity fraud in the sections below. For how exposure compounds, see our digital privacy statistics roundup.
4. Account Takeover and New-Account Fraud
Two attack patterns split identity fraud between them: seizing accounts you already have, and opening accounts in your name. Account takeover remained the single costliest fraud type in 2025 at more than $15 billion, even as its losses dipped 4% while victim counts climbed 18% to 6 million (Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study). Meanwhile new-account fraud grew fastest, up 31% in victims. Independent trackers agree on direction: Sift projected ATO losses reaching $17 billion in 2025 (from $13 billion), and the UK shows the same pattern in its own filings. Javelin details the split in its 2026 Identity Fraud Study release.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Account takeover losses, 2025 | $15 billion+ (costliest type) | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Account takeover victims, 2025 | 6 million (+18% YoY) | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| New-account fraud losses, 2025 | $7 billion (+13% YoY) | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| New-account fraud victims, 2025 | 5.4 million (+31% YoY) | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Projected US ATO losses, 2025 | $17 billion (from $13B in 2024) | Sift, Q3 2025 Digital Trust Index |
| UK facility (account) takeover cases, 2025 | 78,000+ (+6% YoY) | Cifas, Fraudscape 2026 |
| UK identity fraud cases, 2025 | 242,003 (over half of all filings) | Cifas, Fraudscape 2026 |
Outlier note: Sift found social media logins were the most-compromised account type at 51%, ahead of banking and credit card accounts at 28%.
5. AI, Deepfakes, and Voice Cloning
Artificial intelligence did not flood the system with more attacks; it made each one harder to catch. Sumsub’s global identity fraud rate actually fell to 2.2% in 2025 from 2.6%, yet multi-step “sophisticated” attacks jumped from 10% to 28% of all fraud, a 180% increase (Sumsub, Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026). Voice cloning is the sharpest edge of that shift because it weaponizes trust: a McAfee study found one in ten people received a cloned-voice message and 77% of them lost money. The FBI IC3 opened its first dedicated AI section in 2025. Sumsub documents the sophistication shift in its 2025-2026 Identity Fraud Report, and McAfee’s survey is summarized in its voice-cloning research.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AI-related fraud complaints (IC3), 2025 | 22,364 | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| AI-related fraud losses (IC3), 2025 | $893 million | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| Global identity fraud rate, 2025 | 2.2% (down from 2.6% in 2024) | Sumsub, Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026 |
| Deepfakes as share of global fraud, 2025 | 7% | Sumsub, Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026 |
| Growth in multi-step fraud, 2025 | +180% (10% to 28% of attacks) | Sumsub, Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026 |
| Audio needed to clone a voice | 3 seconds (85% voice match) | McAfee |
| Cloned-voice recipients who lost money | 77% | McAfee |
Outlier note: 70% of McAfee respondents said they were not confident they could tell a cloned voice from the real thing. Our deeper breakdown lives in the voice cloning fraud statistics roundup. Defensive framing matters here: legitimate voice cloning software clones only your own voice with your consent, which is the opposite of the non-consensual impersonation driving these scams.
6. Who Gets Hit Hardest
Fraud is not distributed evenly. Americans 60 and older reported roughly $7.7 billion in losses in 2025, up 37% year over year, and the average older victim lost $83,000 in 2024 (FBI IC3, 2025 and 2024 Annual Reports). Children sit at the opposite pole: their theft is silent, often surfacing only when a teenager applies for a first loan. Synthetic identity fraud bridges the two, frequently pairing a child’s unused Social Security number with fabricated details, and TransUnion pegs the resulting US lender exposure at $3.3 billion. The FBI’s elder-fraud figures are detailed in its 2024 Internet Crime Report, and child-victim estimates come from Security.org’s child identity theft research.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Losses by victims 60+, 2025 | $7.7 billion (+37% YoY) | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| Elder fraud losses, 2024 | $4.885 billion (147,127 complaints) | FBI IC3, 2024 Annual Report |
| Average elder victim loss, 2024 | $83,000 | FBI IC3, 2024 Annual Report |
| Minors who face identity theft before 18 | 25% | Security.org |
| US children victimized yearly | 1 in 50 | Javelin (2021, most recent available) |
| Child identity theft growth, 2021-2024 | +40% | FTC (via defend-id, 2025) |
| Synthetic identity exposure, US lenders | $3.3 billion (+3%) | TransUnion |
Outlier note: nearly three quarters of child identity theft victims know the perpetrator, per Security.org, which is why family-level monitoring matters more than external fraud alerts. Because many of these attacks arrive by phone, our vishing statistics roundup covers the call-based tactics in depth.
7. The Human and Financial Toll
The dollar totals understate the damage, because identity theft compounds. In 2025, 67.8% of self-identified identity-crime victims said they had seriously considered self-harm as a way of coping, and more than 20% reported losses above $100,000 (ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report). Recovery eats time as well as money: Javelin clocked an average of 10.4 hours to resolve identity fraud. That severity is reshaping a market, with consumers and businesses spending billions on monitoring and restoration. The Identity Theft Resource Center documents the emotional and financial toll in its 2025 Consumer Impact Report.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Victims losing $100,000+, 2025 | 20%+ | ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report |
| Victims losing $1 million+, 2025 | 10%+ | ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report |
| Victims who considered self-harm | 67.8% | ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report |
| Repeat victimization (twice), 2025 | 31.5% | ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report |
| Average time to resolve identity fraud, 2025 | 10.4 hours | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Fraudulent tax refunds protected by IRS, CY2024-2025 | $7 billion | TIGTA / IRS |
| Identity theft protection market size, 2025 | $17.04 billion | Fortune Business Insights |
Outlier note: market estimates diverge widely by methodology, from roughly $8 billion to $19 billion for 2025; Fortune Business Insights projects the segment reaching $19.45 billion in 2026 at a 12.3% CAGR.
Summary: Identity Theft by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total US consumer fraud losses, 2025 | $15.9 billion (record) | FTC, 2025 fraud data |
| US internet-crime losses, 2025 | $20.9 billion (+26% YoY) | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| Identity fraud losses, 2025 | $27.3 billion | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Combined fraud + scam losses, 2025 | $38 billion (down $9B YoY) | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| Identity fraud victims, 2025 | 18 million | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| FTC identity theft reports, 2024 | 1.1 million | FTC, 2024 Data Book |
| Credit card fraud share of identity theft, 2024 | 43.9% | FTC, 2024 Data Book |
| US data compromises, 2025 | 3,322 (record, +79% over 5 yrs) | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Data breach victim notices, 2025 | 278.8 million | ITRC, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report |
| Account takeover losses, 2025 | $15 billion+ | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| New-account fraud victims, 2025 | 5.4 million (+31% YoY) | Javelin, 2026 Identity Fraud Study |
| AI-related fraud losses (IC3), 2025 | $893 million | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| Deepfakes as share of global fraud, 2025 | 7% | Sumsub, Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026 |
| Cloned-voice recipients who lost money | 77% | McAfee |
| Losses by victims 60+, 2025 | $7.7 billion (+37% YoY) | FBI IC3, 2025 Annual Report |
| Synthetic identity exposure, US lenders | $3.3 billion | TransUnion |
| Victims who considered self-harm, 2025 | 67.8% | ITRC, 2025 Consumer Impact Report |
| UK identity fraud cases, 2025 | 242,003 | Cifas, Fraudscape 2026 |
| Identity theft protection market, 2025 | $17.04 billion | Fortune Business Insights |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered during July 2026 by aggregating figures directly from primary reports, government datasets, and named industry trackers with disclosed methodology, prioritizing 2025-2026 publications and flagging older figures where they are the most recent available. Sources cited:
- Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 Data Book and 2025 fraud data (FTC Data Book; 2025 imposter scam release)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, IC3 2025 Annual Report and 2024 Annual Report (2025 report; 2024 report)
- Javelin Strategy & Research, 2026 Identity Fraud Study: The Illusion of Progress (release)
- Identity Theft Resource Center, 2025 Annual Data Breach Report and 2025 Consumer Impact Report (breach report; consumer impact)
- TransUnion, synthetic identity and global fraud research, 2025 (synthetic identity release)
- Sumsub, Identity Fraud Report 2025-2026 (report)
- McAfee, AI voice-cloning consumer survey (research)
- Cifas, Fraudscape 2026 (UK National Fraud Database) (report)
- Sift, Q3 2025 Digital Trust Index (report)
- Security.org, child identity theft research (report)
- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) / IRS, 2025 tax identity theft data (TIGTA report)
- Fortune Business Insights, Identity Theft Protection Services Market (report)
- The Motley Fool, analysis of FTC Consumer Sentinel data, 2025 (secondary analysis of primary FTC figures)
- defend-id, child identity theft summary citing FTC growth data, 2025 (secondary)
Data watch: several of these are recurring editions with next releases due soon. The FTC typically publishes its full-year Consumer Sentinel Data Book in late Q1, so the 2025 Data Book is expected around March 2026; the FBI IC3 Annual Report also lands in spring; Javelin’s Identity Fraud Study updates each spring; the ITRC releases its next H1 breach analysis mid-year; and Cifas issues Fraudscape annually in Q1. We will refresh these figures as each new edition is published.
Last updated: July 10, 2026.
We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.