The investigation, led by Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, found that federal agencies do not have a consolidated or comprehensive record of how much money has been lost to cyberfraud, how much has been seized from overseas scam compounds, or how much has been returned to victims.
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While the problem grows worse, the response to these crimes has not scaled along with it. The Congressional investigation demonstrates that only a fraction of the money lost to scams is recovered. It also points to the fact that the government fails to fully report on its existing repatriation measures.
Suzanne Sando, a fraud analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, points out that “fragmentation” in the reporting system—including the differing time periods and fraud categories demonstrated above—complicates the government’s ability to grasp the full extent of the problem.
The Congressional report calls on the federal government to enact new legislation to address the rising issue, including the ReportScams.Gov Act, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Hassan and Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott “to mandate a unified federal strategy to combat scams and establish a central location for Americans to find information and assistance regarding scams.”
According to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, Americans ages 60 and older reported losses of about $7.7 billion, a 60% increase from 2024. They reported the highest total losses of any age group, the report showed.
But the true extent of the losses is hard to estimate, experts say. Cyberscams are underreported because victims feel embarrassed, fear judgment, and believe recovery will be impossible.
The report calls for legislation that would “hold accountable” countries that “enable or permit” scam compound operations, and advance federal cooperation with private sector entities like the financial institutions and social media companies at the center of these scams.
In alignment with the Congressional assessment, they tell TIME that a strategic, coordinated, and well-resourced response will be necessary if the government hopes to better protect Americans and help them recover funds lost to scams.
According to Sando, the growing use of artificial intelligence has been partly responsible.
“Criminals use social media to build trust through ongoing conversations and relationships, and AI has become a major part of criminals’ ability to manipulate situations and exploit victims,” she says. “Through AI, criminals can create more convincing and polished messages, fake social media profiles, and deepfake voices and videos with less time and effort.”
Jake Braun, the executive director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the University of Chicago, tells TIME that highly vulnerable populations are more exposed than ever before.
At the same time, technology gives individuals ready access to funding streams. “They've all got Apple Pay on their phones,” Braun points out.
Why is it so difficult to recover lost funds?
It can be difficult to recover stolen funds because the issue is diffuse and widespread—spanning multiple countries, financial institutions, and criminal enterprises—and it is being addressed by a small group of law enforcement agencies that lack centralized coordination.
“It's just incredibly complicated,” he says. “Nobody's robbing a bank and stealing $300 million. It's $1,000 bucks from somebody's grandma here, and it's $500 bucks [there], that collectively is billions and billions. That's a really hard problem to get after.”
“So they're going to focus on big fish, and try and take down big rings, but that just means that they just don't have the bandwidth to go track down hundreds or thousands of dollars that are stolen from individual people because they're trying to take down groups that are collectively stealing billions,” he explains.
The U.S. State Department told those involved with the JEC investigation that it has 60 employees in the U.S. and Asia who dedicate significant time to fighting overseas scam compounds and said that it “has the tools it needs to combat the threat internationally.”
What obstacles stand in the way of providing better protections for Americans?
Sando says that within the private sector, there is “a lack of clear ownership and responsibility,” making it difficult to provide more protection.
In a perfect world, Sando continues, the government would coordinate these efforts and set clear standards for private institutions. She describes its ideal role as “facilitating relevant information-sharing, tracking consistent scam attempts and losses, [reporting] recovery rates for victims, and [adding] measures that are working to reduce the effectiveness of scams.”
Braun agrees, saying that holding the companies accountable is one of the most tangible ways that governments could more aggressively address these scams before they ever happen.
Braun says meaningful discussions around prevention are often buried in conversations about how to address losses in the U.S.
He believes that these considerations must be part of any comprehensive solution to bring down the rate of cyberscams in the U.S.
Once the government has a better understanding of how specific communities are impacted by these scams, he says, it can start to “tailor” solutions to help protect each vulnerable group.
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