TL;DR: Totals hide the typical size of a loss. Dividing the FBI IC3’s published 2025 losses by complaints gives about $123,000 per business email compromise complaint and $118,500 per investment fraud complaint, against about $1,100 for phishing. In Canada, the CAFC’s investment fraud losses of C$351 million over 3,867 victims average about C$90,800. These averages are our calculations from published totals, not agency statistics.
Agencies publish totals and counts, not averages, and the average is what a person asking “how much could I lose?” wants. This page computes them, labels them as ours and explains the limits.
| Crime type | Complaints | Reported losses | Average loss per complaint* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business email compromise | 24,768 | $3,046,598,558 | $123,005 |
| Investment | 72,984 | $8,648,617,756 | $118,500 |
| Tech and customer support | 47,794 | $2,134,675,818 | $44,664 |
| Confidence and romance | 23,159 | $929,287,469 | $40,126 |
| Government impersonation | 32,424 | $797,943,193 | $24,610 |
| Real estate | 12,368 | $275,110,419 | $22,244 |
| Personal data breach | 67,456 | $1,314,923,988 | $19,493 |
| Credit card and check fraud | 18,774 | $282,670,235 | $15,056 |
| Employment | 24,688 | $362,934,762 | $14,701 |
| Non-payment and non-delivery | 56,478 | $503,373,587 | $8,913 |
| Extortion | 89,129 | $122,499,133 | $1,374 |
| Phishing and spoofing | 191,561 | $215,843,126 | $1,127 |
* Computed by us: published losses divided by published complaints, rounded to the nearest dollar. IC3 complaints include some with no financial loss, so this is the average per complaint, not per person who lost money, and a few very large losses can lift an average. IC3 notes its figures are a point-in-time assessment.
Canada: CAFC top frauds by victims
| Fraud type | Victims | Reported dollar loss | Average loss per victim* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spear phishing | 571 | C$67.9M | C$118,914 |
| Investments | 3,867 | C$351.0M | C$90,768 |
| Relationship | 933 | C$63.3M | C$67,846 |
| Recovery pitch | 569 | C$25.9M | C$45,518 |
| Prize | 151 | C$5.7M | C$37,748 |
| Job | 1,726 | C$50.6M | C$29,316 |
| Extortion | 835 | C$23.0M | C$27,545 |
| Fraud investigator | 1,137 | C$28.3M | C$24,890 |
| Service | 2,444 | C$19.5M | C$7,979 |
| Merchandise | 2,222 | C$11.7M | C$5,266 |
* Computed by us: published dollar loss divided by the “victims” column in the CAFC table, rounded. The CAFC notes that identity fraud, phishing and personal information solicitation are listed without financial losses, so they are not included. We have not independently confirmed how the CAFC defines a victim in each row.
United Kingdom, Australia and the FTC
| Source | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| UK Finance: investment fraud (APP) | £221.5 million over 14,893 cases: about £14,873 per case* | UK Finance counts cases as cards or accounts defrauded, not people |
| UK Finance: all APP fraud | £576.4 million over 248,070 cases: about £2,324 per case* | computed |
| Scamwatch (Australia): median loss | A$400 (A$500 in 2024) | published; phone-call median A$3,800 |
| Scamwatch (Australia): average per loss report* | about A$11,872 | A$334.8 million over about 28,200 reports with a loss |
| FTC (US): investment scams | average individual loss over $10,000 | published in 2026 testimony, about half of $15.9 billion in fraud losses |
* Computed by us from published totals and counts. UK Finance’s purchase scam cases (71% of all APP cases) average much less than investment cases; its press release gives that case share, from which we compute a purchase-scam average of about £671 (£118.1 million over about 176,000 cases). Means and medians differ: a median is the middle loss and is far lower than the mean because large losses pull the mean up.
The pattern in the stories: the largest losses come from long-running relationship or business-payment scams. See a UK romance fraud worth £180,000 over four years, a C$3.5 million payment redirection recovery in Quebec and the FTC’s investment training case. Our guides on business email compromise and romance scam statistics give more context, and the free digital footprint check shows what personal data scammers could use against you.
How we compiled this data
IC3 losses and complaints are from the Internet Crime Report 2025 (crime type tables, pages 7 and 8). CAFC figures are from its Top 10 frauds in 2025 page (February 2026). UK Finance figures are from the Annual Fraud Report 2026 press release. Australian and FTC figures are as published by the National Anti-Scam Centre and in FTC testimony.
Every “average” on this page is calculated by us by simple division and is labelled. Agencies define complaints, reports, cases and victims differently, so averages are comparable within a source but not across countries or currencies.
Want to know what is exposed about you personally? Run our free digital footprint checker or read the what to do after a scam guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which scam type has the highest average loss in the IC3 data?
Business email compromise, at about $123,000 per complaint in 2025 by our calculation ($3,046,598,558 over 24,768 complaints), followed by investment fraud at about $118,500.
What is the average loss in Canada’s investment fraud?
About C$90,800 per victim by our calculation: C$351 million over 3,867 victims in the CAFC 2025 table.
Are these averages official statistics?
No. They are our calculations from published totals and counts, and the page labels each one.
Why does the Australian median differ from the average?
Scamwatch’s median loss is A$400, but large losses pull the mean to about A$11,900 by our calculation. The median describes a typical report, the mean describes total money lost per report.
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The chart and compilation are ours; the underlying figures belong to the agencies listed under Sources, so check their terms before reusing the raw data.
Sources
- FBI IC3: Internet Crime Report 2025 (crime types)
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: Top 10 frauds in 2025 (Feb 2026)
- UK Finance: Annual Fraud Report 2026, press release
- National Anti-Scam Centre: Targeting Scams Report 2025
- FTC: Statement before the Joint Economic Committee on the rising scam economy (2026)