Two separate federal data series moved in opposite directions over the same period, and the tracker records both without asserting that one caused the other.
Enforcement. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, U.S. Attorney offices now prosecute just 24 percent of white-collar criminal referrals, the lowest rate since TRAC began tracking in 1986. Three of every four fraud and financial-crime referrals are closed without prosecution. Prosecutions themselves fell from 10,269 in FY1994 to 4,332 in FY2024, with FY2025 projected at 3,862, a roughly 65 percent decline from the FY1995 peak of 10,909. In March 2026 alone, of 939 white-collar referrals disposed of, 620 were closed without prosecution.
Losses. The Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost a record $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024, with reported losses up roughly 430 percent since 2020. The FTC received 3 million fraud reports, up from 2.6 million. Investment scams accounted for $7.9 billion, nearly half the total, and imposter scams for $3.5 billion. People aged 50 and older reported $4.3 billion in losses. The FBI separately put internet crime losses at $20.9 billion.
What the two series do not establish on their own is causation. Fraud reporting is affected by awareness campaigns, platform changes and reporting mechanisms, and prosecution rates have been declining across multiple administrations for three decades. What is documented is that federal fraud enforcement reached its lowest recorded rate in the same period that reported consumer fraud losses reached their highest recorded level.