Officially, there is no formal government estimate of how widespread scams are. But if it feels like a lot, you’re probably right. Some indicators show they have steadily risen for years. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center solicits victims to report their losses but admits its figures are a gross undercount, given that many people don’t want to or know to share that information with the agency.

But, according to a new estimate from the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group, Americans are losing at least $119 billion every year to scams. That sounds like a lot.

The CFA looked at multiple estimates of how frequently scams go unreported—in particular, an extensive 2017 study from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics that found that the government hears of about 14% of scams—to create a ballpark minimum figure of how much people are actually losing. Fraud is popping, everywhere. For 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, the FBI found $16.6 billion in reported losses, beating the previous record, $12.5 billion, in 2023. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, says Ben Winters, the CFA’s director of AI and privacy.

By far the most widely reported and economically devastating scams, according to the FBI survey, are investment scams. They include so-called pig butchering, in which scammers often send texts pretending to come from wrong numbers, then spend months cultivating fake online romantic relationships or friendships with victims. The goal is to spend as much money as possible in bogus cryptocurrency “investments.”

According to NBC News, one major policy recommendation to cut down on scams would be to regulate the data broker industry. Largely unconstrained by federal law, data broker companies package and sell people’s personal information, some of which ends up in scammers’ hands. In 2021, the data broker Epsilon Data Management settled with the Justice Department and paid victims $127.5 million after it was accused of selling elderly people’s information to scammers. Remember, be careful out there.

Iranian explosive-laden boats appear to have attacked two fuel tankers in Iraqi waters, setting them ablaze and killing one crew member on Wednesday, after projectiles struck three vessels in Gulf waters, said port, maritime security and risk firms. Reuters reports that the “latest attacks on ships linked to the U.S. and ‌Europe mark an escalation in the conflict”, raising the number of ships struck in the region since fighting began to at least 16.

Now, there’s “growing momentum to establish a naval protection system” in the Strait of Hormuz as nations are scrambling to get barrels of oil moving again. Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm, said in a note Wednesday that traffic through the Strait that typically handles about 20% of the world’s oil supply “remains near zero because of threats by Iran to attack any passing vessels.”

Iran targeted the world’s busiest international airport Wednesday as well, sparking a major fire on Bahrain’s Muharraq Island, home to the island kingdom’s airport. Authorities urged people to stay indoors and close windows to avoid smoke. The airport has jet fuel tanks, and other tanks in the area serve the kingdom’s oil industry. Meanwhile, the first week of war with Iran cost the United States $11.3 billion, according to the Pentagon, and it seems like this is just the beginning.

If you think younger generations are becoming more liberal, inclusive and tolerant, well … this might surprise you. Gen Z men are most likely to endorse traditional gender norms. While most seem to agree that putting more women in charge makes the world better, Gen Z men seem to be the most old school generation alive, even more-so than baby boomers. Some are calling it the “great regression”. Let’s put it this way: we have a generation that’s more traditional than their grandparents.

The survey was led by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and Ipsos, a market research firm, and 23,000 men and women of all ages across 29 countries participated. One of the major findings? Over 30% of Gen Z men believe that women should “obey” their husbands—29% of Millennial men, 21% of Gen X men and 13% of Baby Boomer men agreed.

Twenty-one percent of those same guys believe that a real woman should never initiate sex. This shows a trend that’s consistent across the study. When compared with older generations—even with boomers, whose anti-woke opinions make them young leftists’ favorite punching bag—younger generations are returning to more traditional beliefs about women’s roles. Esquire says that “if there really is a male loneliness epidemic, the data shows that there’s a pretty obvious reason why.”

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