The United States loses 100 million dollars an hour to fraud and theft.
Posted by The Charlie Kirk Show, Checked
- Sources
- 5 contradict
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 75%
The Charlie Kirk ShowAug 5, 2026
The claim that the US loses $100 million an hour to fraud and theft (about $876 billion a year) is contradicted by the sources.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What we found
Contradicts. PolitiFact states the highest nationwide estimate of US fraud losses is $521 billion, from the GAO's 2024 government-wide estimate of $233–521 billion per year. That is about $60 million an hour, below the claimed $100 million.[1]
Contradicts. A House Financial Services Committee report says FTC-reported fraud losses were $15.9 billion in 2025 and that the true loss, accounting for unreported fraud, is likely closer to $200 billion a year. Even this adjusted figure is well under $876 billion a year.[3][5]
Contradicts. Official reported figures are far lower still: the FTC recorded $12.5 billion in fraud losses for 2024, and the FBI reported about $18 billion in cyber-fraud losses for 2025, which the AP puts at roughly $2 million an hour.[2][4]
Context. The highest independent estimate (the GAO's $521 billion) is roughly a fifth of the claimed annual total, so the claim overstates the magnitude by several times rather than by rounding.[1]
Sources
5 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 2 primary, 1 not rated
- 1Donald Trump said ending fraud could balance the federal budget ...politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts, context
- 2Scam victims struggle to recover money amid fragmented US ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
- 3Fraud Reportfinancialservices.house.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 4Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 - search.ftc.govsearch.ftc.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 5A Pervasive Threataspeninstitute.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post