Maine Scam Report: What's Targeting ME and How to Fight Back
Maine residents filed 2,888 scam and cybercrime complaints with the FBI in 2025 and reported $56.5 million in losses — the 45th-highest total among the 50 states and DC. Here's what those numbers look like up close, which scams are actually hitting Maine, and exactly where to report one.
Reviewed by the Cautellus team · Last updated July 2026
Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2025 Annual Report. These are reported figures — the FBI estimates most victims never file, so real losses run far higher.
How Maine Compares
Nationally, Americans filed 1,008,597 complaints and reported $20.877 billion in losses in 2025 — up 26% from the year before, with an average loss of $20,699 per complaint.
Maine ranks 45th in raw complaint volume and 45th in total losses. Adjusted for population, it ranks 44th in complaints and 36th in losses per 100,000 residents. That per-capita rank is significantly worse than the raw numbers suggest — Maine residents are being hit disproportionately hard for the state's size.
Scams Targeting Maine Seniors
Maine residents aged 60 and over filed 721 complaints and reported $23.3 million in losses in 2025 — roughly 41% of everything lost in the state. Nationally, the 60+ age group lost $7.748 billion, more than any other age bracket, led by investment fraud, tech-support scams, and romance scams.
If a parent or grandparent in Maine gets a suspicious call, text, or pop-up, have them scan it first — before anyone moves money.
Cryptocurrency Fraud in Maine
524 Maine complaints referenced cryptocurrency in 2025, with $35.8 million in associated losses — about 63% of the state's reported total. Most of it is investment fraud: “pig butchering” schemes that start with a friendly message on social media, a dating app, or a wrong-number text, and end at a fake trading platform that won't let you withdraw. Crypto ATM payment demands — for “bail,” “back taxes,” or “securing your account” — are the other major pattern. No legitimate business or government agency takes payment through a crypto ATM.
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Scan Now — It's FreeScam Patterns Hitting Maine
Grandparent scams in the oldest state
Maine has the oldest median age in the country, and scammers know it: family-emergency calls, Medicare fraud, and tech-support pop-ups are the state's dominant patterns. Mainers 60+ reported $23.3 million of the state's $56.5 million in 2025 losses.
Maine Turnpike E-ZPass texts
Fake “Maine Turnpike unpaid toll” texts impersonate the real E-ZPass system. The Turnpike Authority does not text payment links.
Coastal rental and seasonal booking scams
Fake summer rental listings for coastal Maine collect deposits from out-of-state visitors for cottages the scammer doesn't own.
How to Report a Scam in Maine
- 1If money moved, call your bank first. Ask for the fraud department and request a recall or reversal. Minutes matter more than anything else on this list.
- 2File with the FBI at ic3.gov. Fast reports give the FBI's Recovery Asset Team a chance to freeze wire transfers — and your complaint becomes part of the same dataset this page is built on.
- 3Report to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. FTC reports feed the Consumer Sentinel network used by law enforcement nationwide.
- 4File with the Maine Attorney General's Office, Consumer Protection Division. State consumer-protection offices mediate complaints, issue local warnings, and bring enforcement actions against scammers operating in Maine.
- 5Warn the next person. Share what happened on Cautellus so the phone number, website, or username gets flagged for everyone else who searches it.
FAQs
How much money did Maine residents lose to scams in 2025?
Maine residents reported $56.5 million in losses across 2,888 complaints filed with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2025 — the 45th-highest total among the 50 states and DC. Actual losses are higher, since most scams are never reported.
How do I report a scam in Maine?
File with the FBI at ic3.gov (especially if you lost money — fast reporting helps the FBI's Recovery Asset Team attempt to freeze transfers), report to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and file a complaint with the Maine Attorney General's Office, Consumer Protection Division. If money left your bank account, call your bank's fraud department immediately.
Are older Maine residents targeted more?
Maine residents aged 60 and over filed 721 complaints and reported $23.3 million in losses in 2025 — about 41% of the state's reported losses. Nationally, people 60+ lost $7.748 billion, more than any other age group.
Other States in the Northeast
Before You Pay, Click, or Reply
Every scam pattern on this page shares one weakness: it falls apart under a second opinion. If a text, email, link, or phone number feels off, run it through the Cautellus scanner before you act — it checks against 10,000+ confirmed scam entities aggregated from Reddit, FBI IC3, FTC, and global phishing databases, refreshed every 6 hours.
Think you've received a scam?
Paste a suspicious message, email, or URL into our free AI scanner for instant analysis.
Scan Now — It's FreeSources: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2025 Annual Report — state complaint, loss, per-capita, 60+, and cryptocurrency tables.