FTC Testifies before the Joint Economic Committee on Agency’s Efforts to Combat Fraud

The Federal Trade Commission testified today before the Joint Economic Committee about the agency's ongoing work to combat fraud and protect consumers from scammers and other bad actors.

Testifying on behalf of the Commission, Lois Greisman, Associate Director of the FTC's Division of Marketing Practices, said that fighting fraud is the core of the FTC's consumer protection mission. The agency fulfills this mission by pursuing aggressive law enforcement actions against those that perpetrate or facilitate fraud and through consumer education and outreach.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the FTC brought 40 law enforcement actions involving fraudulent schemes such as business opportunities, investment or other money-making schemes, unlawful robocalls, technical support scams, government or business impersonation frauds, and unfair or deceptive fees, among other consumer protection concerns, according to the testimony. Through this work the FTC obtained more than $1.8 billion in redress for consumers affected by deceptive and unfair business practices.

The FTC is assisted in its work by the reports filed by consumers about the problems they experience in the marketplace. The FTC receives those reports via its Consumer Sentinel Network, which collects reports directly from consumers and from data contributors. In 2025, the FTC received 3 million fraud reports from consumers, who reported $15.9 billion in losses-a substantial increase from the previous year when consumers submitted 2.6 million fraud reports and reported fraud losses of over $12 billion, according to the testimony.

Imposter scams was the most frequently reported fraud, as it has been since 2020, according to the testimony. The agency received more than 1 million reports about imposter scams, with consumers reporting more than $3.5 billion in losses. Consumers, however, reported losing the most money ($7.9 billion) to investment scams in 2025.

The testimony also detailed the agency's work to track down foreign-based fraudsters by collaborating with our international counterparts and by targeting U.S. based companies that unlawfully facilitate fraudulent schemes. For example, last year the FTC filed a law enforcement settlement against Paddle, a U.K. payment processor operating in the United States through its U.S. subsidiary to collect payments on behalf of alleged tech-support scammers operating in Cyprus.

In addition to its law enforcement actions, the FTC works to prevent fraud by arming consumers with the information they need to protect themselves, through effective consumer education and outreach. The FTC issues numerous consumer blogs, alerts, videos, social media posts, webinars, and more to alert consumers to emerging fraud trends.

The Commission vote to approve the testimony was 2-0.