A dated timeline of what the government actually warned about. Every entry is an official record from a regulator or law-enforcement body, with the source and the date, so you can see the pattern forming in real time and check every line yourself. New warnings are added as they are issued.
A University of Georgia analysis found AI assistants give inconsistent and sometimes wrong answers to everyday money questions. The takeaway: treat AI money answers as a starting point to verify, not a decision.
Source: University of Georgia, reported by CNBC and UGA Today.
Cryptocurrency-related complaints led all categories with more than 11 billion dollars in reported losses. Investment fraud accounted for nearly half of scam-related losses, and Americans over 60 reported about 7.7 billion dollars lost, up 37 percent.
Source: FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report.
Reports involving crypto kiosks nearly doubled in 2024 to 10,956, with 246.7 million dollars in losses. People over 60 were more than three times as likely to report a kiosk loss. No legitimate agency settles anything at a crypto kiosk.
Source: FinCEN Notice FIN-2025-NTC1.
A 25 percent jump in a year. Investment scams were the single largest category at 5.7 billion dollars, and people lost more via bank transfer and cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined, because those transfers are hard to reverse.
Source: FTC press release.
Task-scam reports jumped from near zero in 2020 to about 20,000 in the first half of 2024. Job-scam losses topped 220 million dollars in that same half year, and cryptocurrency is the payment of choice. A real job never charges you a deposit to unlock your own earnings.
Source: FTC press release.
The FTC announced its first wave of actions targeting businesses making deceptive claims about artificial intelligence. "AI" in a pitch does not make it legitimate, and overblown AI promises are now an enforcement target.
Source: FTC, Operation AI Comply announcement (Sept 2024). Verify the current case list at ftc.gov.
Built specifically to find victims of "pig butchering" relationship investment scams. By the 2025 report it had notified more than 8,000 victims and reduced losses by over 500 million dollars. The tell: a small withdrawal works, then a bigger one stalls behind new fees.
Source: FBI Operation Level Up; FinCEN pig-butchering alert.
The SEC maintains active investor alerts on the recurring patterns: guaranteed returns as a fraud hallmark, fake "SEC registered" claims, cloned crypto trading websites, group-chat pump schemes, AI investment fraud, and celebrity impersonation. Verify any offer on SEC EDGAR and Investor.gov before money moves.
Sources: Group Chats as a Gateway; 5 Ways Fraudsters Lure Victims; False Claims of SEC Registration.
The CFTC publishes a running list of unregistered foreign entities soliciting US residents. If an entity pitching you appears on it, or cannot be found registered anywhere, treat it as high-risk. The list updates as new entities are flagged.
Source: CFTC (check registration + RED List).
The IRS never asks for payment by gift card and does not initiate contact by text or email demanding immediate payment. And crypto is not FDIC-insured; misrepresenting FDIC coverage is a violation the FDIC has acted on.
Sources: IRS gift card scams; FDIC Advisory FIL-22035.