Washington, D.C. — The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) released a new paper, Follow the Money: Bridging Consumer Protection and Illicit Finance to Stop Scams, examining the dramatic rise in fraud and calling for closer coordination between consumer protection and the policing of illicit finance. The paper notes that fraud reports to the Federal Trade Commission have surged from just over 325,000 in 2001 to approximately 6.5 million in 2024, reflecting how advances in technology and AI have made scams more pervasive, scalable, and financially devastating.

The analysis finds that while scams take many forms, they all end the same way: by tricking victims into sending money. Over the past two decades, the traditional boundary between illicit financial activity and consumer fraud has eroded, as criminal networks increasingly rely on mainstream financial institutions, payment apps, and digital banking tools to move stolen funds. Despite this convergence, the regulatory systems responsible for policing illicit finance and protecting consumers remain largely siloed. CFA argues that this separation no longer reflects how modern scams operate and leaves consumers exposed to systemic failures.

The paper calls on policymakers and financial regulators to close this gap by aligning supervision and enforcement so that efforts to combat money laundering and illicit finance also deliver direct relief to scam victims. It emphasizes that scams are both a financial crime and a consumer protection issue, and warns that as digital payments continue to expand, consumers will increasingly bear the costs of institutional compliance failures unless safeguards are strengthened. CFA concludes that regulators must adapt their oversight to ensure innovation does not come at the expense of consumer safety, financial security, and trust in the banking system.