Money Financial Scams Survey
According to Federal Trade Commission data, Americans lost more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024 – which is a 25% increase since 2023. [1] Federal Trade Commission, “New FTC Data Show a Big Jump in Reported Losses to Fraud to $12.5 Billion in 2024”, 2025 https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/03/new-ftc-data-show-big-jump-reported-losses-fraud-125-billion-2024 As technology rapidly changes and becomes more sophisticated, so too do the techniques and strategies employed by fraudsters. [2] Forbes, “Scams In The Digital Era: How Technology Is Changing Fraud”, 2025 https://www.forbes.com/sites/mastercard/2025/03/18/scams-in-the-digital-era-how-technology-is-changing-fraud/
To uncover how financial scams are affecting Americans, a survey was conducted on behalf of Self Financial of 1,132 people about their experiences with financial scams, especially over the past year. The study covered the impact of the scams, and people’s responses to them (and how successful they were in recovering their money).
Key findings
- Over half of respondents (56.4%) said they had been the victim of a financial scam at some point in their lives.
- The average amount of money lost to a financial scam is $874.
- 56.4% of respondents said the scams they experienced were online.
- Over two-fifths of respondents (41.2%) who were scammed took no action to report the scam or recover lost money.
- 55% of those who had been scammed said it negatively affected their trust in financial institutions.
- 96.8% of people were worried about their voice being cloned by AI and used to scam others.
How many respondents have been scammed?
Financial scams come in all shapes and forms, and across all areas of life – from work to relationships. Examples might include a phishing scam (where scammers send fake emails or messages to retrieve personal information), a rental listing scam (where scammers trick victims into paying for non-existent properties), or even a dating scam (where a scammer manipulates a love interest into sending them money). [3] Federal Trade Commission, “Phishing Scams” https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/identity-theft/phishing-scams [4] Consumer Advice, “Rental Listing Scams” https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/rental-listing-scams [5] Consumer Advice, “What to Know About Romance Scams” https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-romance-scams
56.4% of respondents said they had been the victim of a financial scam in their lifetime.
More than half (56.4%) of respondents said they had been the victim of a financial scam at some point during their lifetime. A study by Bankrate in 2025 also found that 68% of Americans have experienced a financial scam at some point. [6] Bankrate, “Survey: More than 1 in 3 Americans have faced a financial scam or fraud in the past year”, 2025 https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/financial-fraud-survey
Although scammers find innovative ways to try and outsmart their victims, 58.8% of respondents said that they knew they were being scammed right away.
How much money was taken from respondents?
Of those who had been scammed, 97.3% said the scammers had successfully taken money from them. In other cases, scams may have involved stolen personal information or unsuccessful attempts to secure payment.
When asked how much money was lost at any point during the scam, the mean average amount taken from a victim is $874.
The average amount of money lost from a financial scam is $874.
Nearly half of respondents said the financial impact the scam had was somewhat difficult but manageable (47.3%), while 40.6% said it had no significant financial impact.
| Financial impact of a scam | |
|---|---|
| Impact | Percentage of respondents |
| Somewhat difficult, but manageable | 47.3% |
| No significant impact | 40.6% |
| Very difficult, causing financial stress | 7.2% |
| Severe impact, such as debt or inability to pay bills | 4.4% |
What kind of scams are respondents seeing?
The digital age – and the anonymity it provides – means scammers have a variety of new, convenient ways to scam victims around the globe.
When asked to select the multiple places they had come across scams, 56.4% of respondents said it was digital or online. However, more traditional forms of scams still persist, with almost two in five (38.8%) saying that they had come across a scam on a traditional platform (in-person, via mail, or via other printed materials).
| Where respondents encountered financial scams | |
|---|---|
| Scam type | Percentage of respondents |
| On a general website or platform | 42.9% |
| On a traditional platform (e.g. in-person, mail, printed materials) | 38.8% |
| On social media | 5% |
| A phone call | 4.1% |
| An advert on social media (e.g. Instagram, Facebook ads) | 2.5% |
| An email | 2.2% |
| A text, WhatsApp, or other messaging service | 1.3% |
| A fake or copycat website | 0.9% |
| A referral from someone I know online | 0.8% |
| An advert on a search engine (e.g. Google ads) | 0.6% |
| At a seminar, event, or exhibition | 0.6% |
| An AI-generated scam or promotion (e.g. fake celeb endorsements, deepfakes) | 0.2% |
| Other | 0.2% |
When asked how money was taken from them via the scam, there were two responses which were by far the most common. Over two in five (42.3%) people said someone had used their debit or credit card without permission, closely followed by 40.6% saying that money had been taken from their bank account.
| How respondents’ money was taken in financial scams | |
|---|---|
| Scam type | Percentage of respondents |
| Debit or credit card was used without permission | 42.3% |
| Money taken from a bank account using personal details without permission | 40.6% |
| Account used for ‘money muling’ (being tricked into transferring or moving money on behalf of scammers) | 5.6% |
| APP (Authorized Push Payment) fraud — authorizing a payment that turned out to be fraudulent | 4.4% |
| Cryptocurrency fraud — money was taken from a bank or crypto account without authorization | 2.4% |
| Pension fraud/scam — money was taken from a pension account without authorization | 1.8% |
| Goods or a service that turned out to be fraudulent | 1.3% |
| Sending money to an account that was compromised | 1.5% |
| Other | 0.2% |
How do respondents respond to financial scams?
When it came to responding to the scam, the responses were split between doing something (58.5%) and nothing (41.2%).
Over two-fifths of respondents (41.2%) who were scammed took no action to report the scam or recover lost money.
The survey asked participants who had taken action to select one thing they had done in response. The most common way to respond was to file a police report (44%), followed by contacting the bank or credit card company (41.8%).
| Most popular recovery methods | |
|---|---|
| Recovery method | Percentage of respondents |
| Filed a police report | 44% |
| Contacted the bank or credit card company | 41.8% |
| Reported to a consumer protection agency (e.g., FTC) | 9.7% |
| Used a chargeback or dispute process | 3.2% |
| Hired a lawyer or recovery service | 1.1% |
| Other | 0.3% |
Most people who reported the scam were able to recover some of their money lost. Almost half of the people (48%) were able to partially recover some of their money, and 43.2% of people were able to fully recover their money. But this doesn’t mean that everyone had a positive experience trying to recover their money. In fact, 55% of those who had been scammed said it negatively affected their trust in financial institutions.
| How successful respondents were at recovering their money? | |
|---|---|
| Outcome | Percentage of respondents |
| Partially recovered | 48% |
| Fully recovered | 43.2% |
| Unsuccessful, but attempted to retrieve money | 5.4% |
| Did not attempt to retrieve money | 3.5% |
But considering that most people had successfully recovered at least part of their money, what caused 41.2% of respondents not to report the fraud or attempt? The leading cause (48.3%) was not knowing where to report the scam. The next most common reason was embarrassment or shame (46.8%).
| Reasons respondents did not report financial scams | |
|---|---|
| Reason | Percentage of respondents |
| Didn’t know where to report the crime | 48.3% |
| Embarrassment or shame | 46.8% |
| Thought it wouldn’t help | 2.7% |
| Other | 1.5% |
| Scared of repercussions | 0.8% |
How do respondents feel about AI being used in financial scams?
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is helping fraudsters create convincing materials to fool potential victims. Common uses of AI in scams include voice cloning, whereby scammers can now replicate someone’s voice with as little as a short audio clip. One type of scam growing in popularity is emergency family scams, where a scam artist will clone the voice of a loved one and trick a victim into believing they are in danger and need financial assistance. [7] Fidelity Bank, “How to protect yourself from AI voice scams” https://www.fidelity-bank.com/news/watch-out-for-ai-voice-scams In one example, a victim picked up an unknown call to hear the voice of her child, who was supposedly “in danger” and needed a $1 million ransom from the kidnappers. [8] CNN, ‘Mom, these bad men have me’: She believes scammers cloned her daughter’s voice in a fake kidnapping’ https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/29/us/ai-scam-calls-kidnapping-cec/index.html
Only 3.2% of respondents weren’t worried about the potential of AI cloning their voice for nefarious purposes. However, 45.9% of the 96.8% of people who were concerned about this were only worried about it happening in the future. However, in 2025 the nonprofit, Consumer Reports, reviewed six voice cloning apps and reports that four of those apps have no significant guardrails preventing users from cloning someone’s voice without their consent. [9] Consumer Reports, ’AI Voice Cloning Report’, 2025 https://innovation.consumerreports.org/AI-Voice-Cloning-Report-.pdf
96.8% of people were worried about their voice being cloned by AI and used to scam others.
Methodology
A survey on behalf of Self Financial was conducted in July 2025 and asked 1,132 American adults questions about financial scams and financial literacy. Questions covered how confident they felt managing their finances, their personal experiences with financial scams, the types of financial scams they experienced, and how they responded to the scams.
The demographics of the respondents were:
Gender:
- Female 49.8%
- Male 49.9%
- Non-binary 0.3%
Age:
- 24-28 43.6%
- 29-36 11.9%
- 37-44 41.6%
- 45-52 1.7%
- 53-60 0.5%
- 61-65 0.4%
- 66-70 0.1%
- 76-79 0.1%
Sources
- [1] Federal Trade Commission, “New FTC Data Show a Big Jump in Reported Losses to Fraud to $12.5 Billion in 2024”, 2025 https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/03/new-ftc-data-show-big-jump-reported-losses-fraud-125-billion-2024
- [2] Forbes, “Scams In The Digital Era: How Technology Is Changing Fraud”, 2025 https://www.forbes.com/sites/mastercard/2025/03/18/scams-in-the-digital-era-how-technology-is-changing-fraud/
- [3] Federal Trade Commission, “Phishing Scams” https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/identity-theft/phishing-scams
- [4] Consumer Advice, “Rental Listing Scams” https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/rental-listing-scams
- [5] Consumer Advice, “What to Know About Romance Scams” https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-romance-scams
- [6] Bankrate, “Survey: More than 1 in 3 Americans have faced a financial scam or fraud in the past year”, 2025 https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/financial-fraud-survey
- [7] Fidelity Bank, “How to protect yourself from AI voice scams” https://www.fidelity-bank.com/news/watch-out-for-ai-voice-scams
- [8] CNN, ‘Mom, these bad men have me’: She believes scammers cloned her daughter’s voice in a fake kidnapping’ https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/29/us/ai-scam-calls-kidnapping-cec/index.html
- [9] Consumer Reports, ’AI Voice Cloning Report’, 2025 https://innovation.consumerreports.org/AI-Voice-Cloning-Report-.pdf
