The FBI is urging Americans to brace for a new wave of holiday scams as criminals lean heavily on artificial intelligence to impersonate loved ones, forge identities and pressure victims into fast decisions.
In a new public service announcement, the Bureau says it received more than 9,000 AI-related complaints to its Internet Crime Complaint Center in the first seven months of 2025, with losses piling on top of last year’s $13.7 billion in reported fraud.
Ahead of the holiday season, FBI Director Kash Patel says the American public should be on the lookout for urgency tactics and AI-assisted deception that fraudsters now deploy at scale.
“If you feel pressured to act fast, pay money, or turn over personal information—take a beat. Stop and assess if what you’re being told is real. Talk to your families. Protect each other from scams. Scammers are banking on the fact that you’ll feel too embarrassed to come forward and report the crime to the FBI. Don’t let them win.”
The FBI highlights that today’s scammers now use AI tools to generate fake voices, doctored videos, fabricated IDs and social media personas, often designed to mimic trusted contacts.
“Fraudsters use technology to create fake social media profiles, voice clones, identification documents, and videos with believable depictions of public figures or even loved ones.”
According to the FBI, fraudsters are increasingly blending AI with classic psychological pressure, targeting Americans across age groups but extracting the highest dollar losses from victims over 60, who filed the most complaints last year.
The FBI urges the public to keep their personal information private and ignore requests to send funds and other gifts online.
“The FBI specifically encourages Americans to talk to their loved ones about not sharing sensitive information with people they have met only online or over the phone. They also should not send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency or other assets.”
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