American people lost nearly $800 million due to being defrauded by fake officials in 2025.

The latest report released by the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI shows that by 2025, fraudulent activities impersonating government officials have caused nearly $800 million in losses to the American people, with the number of related complaints increasing by nearly 50% compared to 2024. The website Politico quoted the report on the 6th, reporting that the agency received over 32,000 reports of such scams last year. The usual method used by scammers is to disguise themselves as official authorities, using threats of severe punishment to deceive victims into providing personal sensitive information such as bank accounts and social security numbers. According to the FBI, these scams even involve impersonating government high officials such as Secretary of State Rubio and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. FBI Special Agent Ronald Miller stated that scams impersonating government officials have been "constantly increasing" over the years. He pointed out that these fraudulent activities are mostly linked to call centers in India, and scammers also impersonate technical support personnel from well-known companies. Miller revealed that in 2025, scams involving impersonation of technical support personnel and government officials collectively led to losses exceeding $3 billion. Miller particularly emphasized that elderly people are more easily deceived, partly because they tend to trust American law enforcement agencies more.