Rental scam statistics: FTC and IC3 figures

Two federal sources publish numbers that get quoted as “rental scam statistics”: the Federal Trade Commission, from reports to its Consumer Sentinel Network, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). They measure different things, over different periods, and both undercount. Below, every figure is quoted exactly as published, with its year and what it covers. We re-check them when either agency publishes new data.

01FTC: rental scams reported to Consumer Sentinel

From the FTC Data Spotlight “Rental scams hit home with $65 million in reported losses,” published December 22, 2025:

The FTC also gives the share of reports with a monetary loss by age group for July 2024 to June 2025: 46% (18–29), 23% (30–39), 13% (40–49), 9% (50–59), 6% (60–69), 2% (70–79) and less than 1% (80 and over).

How the FTC counted. Its footnote says “a text classification model was used to identify rental scam reports based on patterns in report narratives,” using fraud reports filed from January 2020 through June 2025. Reports filed by Sentinel data contributors were excluded. Platform shares exclude reports that didn’t name a website, app or platform.

The FTC supports that with a study it cites: only 4.8% of people who experienced mass-market consumer fraud complained to a Better Business Bureau or a government entity.

02FBI IC3: real-estate fraud complaints

The IC3’s annual Internet Crime Report has a “Real Estate” crime type. It is all real-estate fraud, not only rentals: the report defines it as “Loss of funds from a real estate investment or fraud involving rental or timeshare property.” So it includes, for example, investment and timeshare fraud.

For complainants aged 60 and over, the same report lists 2,473 real-estate complaints and $123,671,936 in losses in 2025 (1,765 and $76,324,236 in 2024; 1,498 and $65,634,851 in 2023). Across every crime type, the IC3 received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025 with $20.877 billion in reported losses.

03What these numbers can’t tell you

Neither agency publishes how many rental listings are fake, how many renters were targeted without losing money, or how losses split between deposits, application fees and identity theft. The FTC’s figures are reports, not a survey of renters, and its platform shares describe where reporters said a scam started, not where scams are most likely per listing. The IC3 figures describe complaints filed with the FBI. Treat both as evidence that the problem is large and under-reported, not as a precise measure of risk for any one listing.

04Why the two sources don’t agree

• Different scope. The FTC figure is rental scams identified by a classifier; the IC3 figure is every kind of real-estate fraud.
• Different periods. The FTC total spans five and a half years; the IC3 figures are per calendar year.
• Different reporters. People choose where to report, and many report to neither. Both are floors, not totals.

If you write about rental scams, quote each figure with its source, its period and what it counts, and don’t add them together.

05Add your report

If you lost money, or nearly did, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov. Both agencies’ figures come from reports like yours, and so do the patterns law enforcement acts on.

Sources

1. FTC Data Spotlight: Rental scams hit home with $65 million in reported losses (Dec 22, 2025). www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2025/12/rental-scams-hit-home-65-million-reported-losses
2. FBI IC3: Internet Crime Report 2025. www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf
3. FBI IC3: Internet Crime Report 2024. www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf
4. FTC Consumer Advice: Rental Listing Scams. consumer.ftc.gov/articles/rental-listing-scams