10/06/2025

Though many federal agencies have fraud-prevention responsibilities, no one agency has the authority to coordinate such efforts.

Next Gov

The government needs to make a plan to address scams as a national security crisis, according to a strategy a group of over 80 public, private and nonprofit actors released last week.

With scammers often part of transnational criminal organizations using fraud to fund other crimes like human trafficking, the threat is not only to individual Americans, but also to national security, argues the group, led by the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. 

U.S. consumers lose an estimated $158 billion a year to fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission, and nearly 75% of Americans say they’ve fallen prey to an online scam or attack.

The threat is only getting worse, with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence enabling even more fraud, and the United States lacks a coordinated strategy, the task force says. Various agencies work on fraud and scam issues, including the FBI and Department of Justice, but no one agency has the resources or mandate to coordinate efforts, as the Stimson Center has argued.