Americans lose billions every year to AI and tech-enabled online scams. Add your voice to the growing movement sounding the alarm and calling for online platforms to be held accountable for their role in enabling the spread of scams and fraud.
Join us in sounding the alarm on the growing problem of AI and tech-enabled online scams and fraud—and calling on online platforms to be held accountable for preventing this harm.
Hear from federal and state lawmakers, policy experts, scam survivors, and other advocates about how online platforms enable and profit off the proliferation of scams and fraud online—with disastrous consequences for families, workers, seniors, veterans, young people, etc.
Meta gets paid every time it allows a scam ad to reach someone, and Facebook and Instagram are where Americans most often encounter scammers. Its own documents projected about $16 billion in ad revenue from scams and banned goods in 2024, and AI is supercharging the fraud. Tell them to stop selling scams and call on Congress to act.
Sign the PetitionOnline scams are on the rise. People across the country — including seniors, veterans, and young people — lose thousands of dollars to AI and tech-enabled online scams and fraud. Many of these scams start on social media platforms through fraudulent advertisements, marketplace listings, friend requests, or direct messages. Commonplace scams include romance scams, investment scams, crypto scams, online marketplace scams, and government impersonation scams.
Estimated lost each year by Americans to online scams, according to the Consumer Federation of America.
Lost per U.S. household to online scams each year, according to the Consumer Federation of America.
Earned by Meta from fraudulent Medicare scam advertisers on Facebook, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Meta's own projection of its 2024 revenue from ads for scams and banned goods, about 10% of total sales, according to Reuters. Meta calls the estimate overly inclusive.
Of older Americans reported at least one scam attempt in the past year, according to the National Council on Aging.
Of 202 TikTok accounts reported for apparently breaking its own rules on gray-market weight-loss drugs were removed. The rest stayed up, according to UltraViolet.
Millions of people face harm from online scams and fraud. By collectively raising our voices, we can shift the burden and shame that people feel for being a scam victim to the online platforms that are enabling — and in some cases profiting from — these scams.
While individuals alone cannot solve a systemic problem, consumers can take steps to protect themselves.
Use the number on the back of your card or on the official website — never one from an email, text, or search result, which could itself be fake.
Contact Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Alerting one automatically notifies the other two and helps block new accounts being opened in your name.
Report the fraud with the FTC, your local police, and — for elder fraud specifically — the FBI's IC3. A police report can matter later if restitution becomes possible.
Organizations offer free online small-group support for scam victims to work through the emotional impact, which can be significant even when finances are recovered.
These are untraceable and a hallmark of a scam demand. Pay by credit card instead, which offers fraud protection.
Check your credit report regularly and freeze it to block scammers from opening new accounts in your name.
Don't let unannounced visitors inside, and have a scripted refusal ready: “I do not do business at my door or on the phone.” Limit social media posts to friends only, and be wary of “friend” impostor scams.
Have someone you can run big financial decisions by before sending money.
Learn more from AARP and the Alliance for Retired Americans.
Lawmakers can prevent online scams and fraud by introducing and supporting legislation to:
Hold platforms accountable for contributing to the development of fraudulent content and failing to enforce their own published terms, policies, or community standards.
Require platforms to provide privacy-by-default protections to users.
Require platforms to collect an advertiser’s legal name and physical address, contact information, government-issued identifier and documents establishing their legal existence.
Require platforms to provide basic information about advertisers including their name, country of origin, and length of time on the platform.
Require platforms to provide fraud reporting systems for users with timely response of receipt for scam reports.
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