WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) entitled Scamplified: How Generative AI Can Amplify Scams and Fraud with No Regulation or Responsibility, reveals how emerging generative AI technologies are fueling a dramatic rise in online scams and fraud, with devastating financial consequences for U.S. consumers, particularly seniors.

“Tech companies are failing to appropriately moderate and mitigate the way their Generative AI tools are being used to supercharge scams and fraud,” Ben Winters, Director of AI and Privacy said, “As we see the amount of money lost from internet crime skyrocket, it’s irresponsible and unacceptable for companies to facilitate false content creation aimed at impersonating, defrauding, and blackmailing the average consumer without robust moderation and harm mitigation efforts. The companies can’t keep having the leash of ‘self regulation’ — it’s giving a weapon to bad actors to make scams easier to do, harder to track, and more common.”

The report details how Americans lost over $16 billion to online scams in 2024, a staggering 33% increase from the previous year. Seniors alone lost nearly $5 billion, a figure likely far higher due to systemic underreporting.

CFA’s report shows how generative AI is transforming scam tactics, making phishing, impersonation, extortion, and identity theft more targeted, believable, and difficult to detect. Whether it’s chatbots generating flawless phishing emails, or voice-cloning tools mimicking loved ones in distress, AI is accelerating the reach and realism of fraud.

The report also maps the full “scam stack,” outlining how a web of underregulated technologies, from data brokers and robocalls to social media platforms and payment systems, work in tandem to enable scams at scale. The report calls for stronger safeguards, corporate accountability, and swift regulatory action to protect consumers in this rapidly evolving threat landscape.