FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2025 

Senator Hassan Announces Major Effort to Combat Scams

As Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, Senator Hassan Releases Issue Brief and Launches New Survey to Collect Information on Common Scams to Aid Efforts; Senator Also Previews Upcoming Investigations

WASHINGTON – The Joint Economic Committee – Minority, led by U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), today announced a broad new effort to protect people from financial scams, which eclipsed $1 trillion in stolen money worldwide last year. The Committee released an issue brief outlining the massive impact that scams have on the economy, underscoring the importance of tackling them, and previewing upcoming Committee investigations into major drivers of scams. Senator Hassan is also launching a public survey, located HERE, for people to send information in about scams that they have experienced, to help focus the investigations.  

“Just about everyone has gotten a text or call about some kind of fake unpaid toll or bill – and the scale of scams may be higher than even some realize, with the $1 trillion stolen by scammers last year eclipsing even the global drug trade. The bottom line is that both government and businesses need to do more,” said Senator Maggie Hassan, Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee. “Scams are more than just a nuisance for Americans, they are costing people their life savings and hurting our economy. The Joint Economic Committee – Minority will be launching investigations and driving action that will protect Americans and finally take on scams in a comprehensive manner.”  

Key highlights from the issue brief released today include:  

• Policymakers and private sector actors alike have thus far failed to adequately address scams and the underlying vulnerabilities that have allowed them to proliferate. The Joint Economic Committee – Minority is now taking this issue head on, launching a major project to investigate financial scams and strengthen efforts to prevent them
• Worldwide, scammers stole an estimated $1 trillion in 2024, making it a bigger illicit industry than the global drug trade. Overall, Americans lose more each year to scams than to burglary and car theft 
• Victims in the U.S. aged 60 and over lost an average of $80,000, more than four times greater than the average American 
• The growing use of AI is dramatically increasing scammers’ ability to defraud their targets 
• The Committee will aim to ensure that both government and businesses step up efforts to fight fraud; for example, the project will examine ways to prevent the proliferation of fraud on payment platforms and through spam calls and texts, as well as evolving scam threats that AI presents  

The effort launched by the Joint Economic Committee – Minority will spotlight the huge increase in financial scams and help drive solutions from both the government and businesses in order to protect Americans. The new survey that Senator Hassan is launching as part of this effort will also collect information from the public about the most frequent scams that people are encountering as well as their size and scope, helping to focus the effort. Fill out the survey HERE.  

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