BBB Study Examines How Legal Tools Enable Scams

The Better Business Bureau is calling attention to the role legitimate communications technology and online services can play in facilitating fraud, as scam reports involving phone calls and text messages continue to increase across North America.

In a new study titled “Blueprint of a Scam,” BBB’s International Investigations Initiative analyzed more than 433,000 reports submitted to BBB Scam Tracker since 2022. The organization used an artificial intelligence model to examine patterns in the reports and identify the technologies and services frequently used to reach potential victims.

The findings point to a growing challenge for consumers, technology providers, and regulators. BBB cited research estimating that Americans lost about $68 billion to scams in 2025, while scam calls and text messages have emerged as major channels for fraudulent outreach. The organization argues that scammers are increasingly able to take advantage of legitimate technologies and services that were not designed for fraudulent purposes.

Calls and Texts Become Major Scam Channels

BBB Scam Tracker data shows substantial growth in reports involving both text messages and phone calls.

Reports involving scam texts increased from 5,985 in 2023 to 8,000 in 2024 before reaching 21,839 in 2025. Reports involving phone calls rose from 12,562 in 2023 to 19,403 in 2024 and 38,523 in 2025.

The increase demonstrates how traditional communications channels remain central to fraud even as scam operations adopt newer technology.

BBB found that scammers may use legitimate services and technologies, including Voice over Internet Protocol phone numbers, robocalling systems, website templates, artificial intelligence, and social media. These tools have legitimate commercial applications, but they can also make it easier for fraudulent operations to contact large numbers of consumers.

Legitimate Technology Creates Enforcement Challenges

The report raises a broader issue surrounding how quickly platforms and service providers can identify and remove fraudulent users.

Scammers can change phone numbers, create new accounts or move between platforms when their activity is detected. That flexibility can make enforcement difficult, particularly when the same infrastructure is widely used by legitimate businesses.

BBB identified the speed of removing scammers from platforms as one of the challenges contributing to the problem.

The findings add another dimension to ongoing discussions surrounding communications compliance, platform responsibility and the safeguards companies use to identify customers accessing their services.

BBB Proposes Changes to Existing Regulations

Alongside its findings, BBB outlined several regulatory changes it believes could strengthen fraud prevention.

Among the recommendations is expanding protections under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule, including providing text messages with protections comparable to those covering certain calls.

BBB also recommends eliminating the $50,000 loss requirement for private actions under the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The organization argues that lowering this barrier could provide individuals with greater opportunities to pursue remedies.

Other recommendations include requiring national VoIP providers to maintain a $200,000 bond that could potentially be used following fraud judgments and expanding Know Your Customer requirements to create stronger records identifying who is using communications services.

The report also calls for changes involving Section 230 that would create additional room for laws similar to the TCPA and TSR to address fraudulent activity.

Consumers Can Take Steps to Limit Exposure

While the report emphasizes regulatory and industry-level changes, BBB also recommends several straightforward precautions for consumers.

Unknown calls can be allowed to go to voicemail rather than answered immediately. Consumers should also recognize that receiving calls or texts from different numbers does not necessarily mean they are dealing with unrelated activity. Scammers can change phone numbers while continuing the same scheme.

Activating built-in spam filtering features on mobile devices can provide another layer of protection. Although filters cannot eliminate every fraudulent communication, they may prevent some suspicious calls from reaching consumers.

BBB has studied fraud affecting consumers and businesses for several years, including job scams, identity theft, online gambling, vehicle purchasing schemes and business-related fraud. Its new analysis shifts attention toward the infrastructure behind these schemes and the regulatory gaps that may allow fraudulent activity to continue.

As scam operations increasingly combine familiar communications channels with newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, the findings suggest that preventing fraud may require more than identifying individual scams. It may also require examining the legitimate tools and services that allow those scams to reach consumers at scale.