The Top Scams on Social Media

In 2025, nearly 30% of consumers who lost money to scams, and reported it to the FTC, said it started on social media, with reported losses reaching $2.1 billion. These losses are eight times higher than in 2020. Some of the most common scams that start on these websites and apps are:

Shopping Scams: These were the most reported scam on social media in 2025. Scammers post ads for rare or expensive items listed at low prices. Users who click the ads end up on a website that seems like a familiar, trusted online sales platform – but it’s actually a copycat website created by a scammer. If a consumer logs in to the scam website with their username and password for the real website, the scammer gains access to their real account. If a consumer makes a purchase on the scam website, the scammer gains access to their financial information.

· Avoid clicking directly on ads or links. Instead, manually type in the real website’s web address. Any deal being promoted in a real company’s ad will also be found on their website.

· Double check the web address before logging in or entering any payment information. If it looks different than usual, that’s a red flag.

Romance Scams: Nearly 60% of romance scams that resulted in losses in 2025 started on social media. It’s easy for real users to meet people online, but a new love interest who sends them an unsolicited direct message or matches with them on a dating app, could be a scammer. Romance scammers spend time gaining their target’s trust and building a relationship, then ask for money to travel or handle an emergency. In another variation, they offer to invest in stocks or cryptocurrency with their target, then tell them to put their money into a fake asset secretly controlled by the scammer.

· It’s a bad idea for consumers to send money to someone they have never met or invest heavily in an asset that was recommended by an online romance.

· Remember that modern technology makes it easy for scammers to fake how they look or sound on social media – even in real-time calls.

Coaching/Training Scams: Social media users may find testimonials and ads posted by “experts” who offer to teach fool-proof ways to get rich quick. They might claim they can help small business owners, set someone up with a high-paying remote job, or make massive returns from stocks or cryptocurrency. Along with romance scams, coaching/training scams are often used in connection with investment scams, which are responsible for more than half of all reported social media scam losses. Scammers make it sound easy to make money – all consumers need to do is pay for training or coaching to learn the expert’s tricks. Some scammers provide no coaching or training at all. Other coaches/trainers do provide the promised lessons, but they cannot guarantee the huge earnings they advertised.

Be suspicious of big promises. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

· Don’t trust testimonials provided by the coach/trainer. Search for independent reviews online and include words like “scam” or “complaint” in the search.