Global cyberscams bilk Americans out of billions. A fragmented US
response means few get money back
[October 27, 2026] By
ERIKA KINETZ
The U.S. government isn't doing enough to fight the surge in cyberscams,
and partnerships with the private sector remain fragmented and
voluntary, an investigation into the global scam industry led by the
Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress has found.
The government doesn't even have a unified accounting of how much money
has been seized from overseas scam compounds, nor how much has been
returned to victims, according to the report, released Tuesday by
ranking Democrats Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Don Beyer.
Citing findings from a yearlong investigation into global scams by The
Associated Press and FRONTLINE, the report called for greater
collaboration across agencies, support for victims, and deeper private
sector engagement.
“Transnational criminal organizations run massive compounds that exploit
U.S. technology, including AI, to carry out scams against Americans with
devastating consequences,” Hassan said in an email. “The scale of this
exponentially growing challenge requires Congress, the Administration,
and the private sector to all strengthen their efforts.”
The report, which the AP obtained before its release, made clear how
hard it is for scam victims to get their money back, despite the
quickening pace of seizures announced by a variety of U.S. government
agencies.
The FBI told the committee that it returned $336 million to scam victims
in 2025.
The Federal Trade Commission reported that it had returned $1.83 billion
to fraud victims in fiscal year 2025, but couldn't determine how much of
that money had been lost to overseas scam compounds.
The U.S. Secret Service returned more than $770 million in seized assets
to fraud victims in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, but noted the money had
come from a range of fraud schemes.
The U.S. State Department said that foreign law enforcement agencies
that receive support from the department had seized proceeds “in the low
hundreds of millions of dollars,” but told Congress to ask the
Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury for details.
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 Taken together, that only adds up to
a fraction of what victims have lost. Americans reported cyberfraud
losses of nearly $18 billion — that’s more than $2 million an hour —
last year to the FBI. Many don’t even report the crime.
The report also expressed concern that even as criminal scam
networks expand into more countries, U.S. State Department cutbacks
eliminated at least one anti-scam program in Bangladesh, which had
been training local law enforcement to conduct cyberfraud
investigations.
Bangladesh is an emerging hub for global scam operations, according
to a report last month by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime that was funded by the European Union.
The U.S. State Department, which said it has 60 employees in the
U.S. and Asia who dedicate significant time to fighting overseas
scam compounds, told the committee that it “has the tools it needs
to combat the threat internationally.”
The report urged Congress to pass pending legislation that would
mandate a unified federal strategy to combat scams and establish a
central location for victims to report losses and seek help. The
White House has also advocated for greater federal coordination.
Several Justice Department officials told Congress that private
sector companies should focus more on scam prevention, but U.S.
regulators and lawmakers have so far not created clear incentives
for them to do so. Unlike the 27-nation EU, the United Kingdom,
Australia and Singapore, the United States has stopped short of
holding technology, telecommunications or financial services
companies potentially liable if they fail to do enough to protect
consumers from scams.
Kate Griffin, a director at the Aspen Institute’s financial security
program, said that there has been important progress, but the U.S.
still lacks “durable, sustainable scam prevention.”
“We don’t see that showing up yet in reduced victimization,” she
said. “And that’s what really needs to happen.”
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