Survey: A Rising Tide of Financial Fraud in the U.S.

Photography by Getty Images; Illustration by Bankrate

A growing number of people say they’ve experienced some form of financial fraud over the past year, especially older, white Americans, despite taking a variety of precautions to protect themselves, Bankrate’s latest national survey has found.

Experts said scammers are getting increasingly crafty, using artificial intelligence to clone voices, create videos and fake emails that seem more authentic.

To protect your finances, they say, you must become more vigilant and ready to notify authorities as soon as they think there’s a problem.

Most of us have been scammed at one point or another

The public opinion poll showed that four in 10 (40%) adults say they’ve been entangled in some type of financial fraud or scam over the previous 12 months. And more than seven in 10 (73%) experienced a financial scam or fraud at some point in their lives. That’s up from 34% and 68%, respectively, from a similar Bankrate survey that ran last year.

“Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated thanks to artificial intelligence, and they’re reaching more people than ever,” Bankrate analyst Sarah Foster said. “It might be wishful thinking at this point to assume you’ll never come across someone attempting to steal your information or your money.”

The survey asked respondents if they were ever targeted by financial scams or attempts to steal their personal information and, if so, whether those attempts were successful. The responses were then compared with a similar survey from last year.

Overall, more Americans said this year that they were targeted by some form of financial fraud. The increase was consistent across a variety of age groups, income and education levels, with some of the biggest jumps among respondents who are older and white.

For example, half (50%) of white respondents who were at least 55 years old said that in the past 12 months, someone attempted to access their personal or financial information, or they spent money on what turned out to be a phony service. That is up 13 percentage points from last year.

In comparison, 39% of whites between 35 and 54 and 35% of whites between 18 and 34 had the same experience. That is up 6 points and 3 points, respectively, over the past year.

AI is making it tougher to spot a scam

Experts in financial fraud prevention said the survey results support what they’ve noticed independently: financial fraud is on the rise in America, and so is the public’s awareness that they’re being targeted.

Kathy Stokes, who leads the fraud prevention program at AARP, said scammers are increasingly deploying AI to snatch their target’s personal information. The new technology “makes these scam attempts nearly, and sometimes entirely, imperceptible,” Stokes said.

Mason Wilder, a research director at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, said “it’s never been easier to commit fraud.” Financial scams have become so ubiquitous, Wilder said, that “everybody kind of expects to be targeted pretty much continuously with scam attempts.”

The survey found that a growing number of Americans believe they’ll be targeted by a financial scam in the future (52% in 2026 versus 37% in 2025). Even so, more Americans over the past 12 months have taken steps to protect their finances from financial fraud or scams than in the prior year (95% in the 2026 survey versus 89% in 2025).

A majority of adults say they now avoid suspicious links or emails (79%), regularly check their financial accounts (67%), enable two-factor authentication for personal accounts (61%), and have shredded sensitive documents before disposal (55%).

“There’s no foolproof way to avoid being targeted by a scam anymore, and even Americans who take these steps can fall victim to fraud,” Foster said. “If you think you’ve been scammed, it’s important to act quickly. Contact your bank right away, report it to the Federal Trade Commission, place a fraud alert on your credit reports or lock your accounts if needed.”

What to do if you’re facing financial fraud or a scam

• Contact your bank or financial institution immediately. If money was withdrawn, transferred or charged:
  • Call your bank or credit card company right away.
  • Report and dispute suspicious charges.
  • Ask whether the transaction can be stopped or reversed.
  • Change your passwords
• Report the incident with local police or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This creates a paper trail that may be important later, especially if restitution programs become available. Consumer fraud hotlines, such as AARP’s Fraud Watch Network helpline, are also available for guidance and support.
• Do not send more money. Never send additional funds to “recover” lost money and never comply with urgent demands involving gift cards or crypto ATMs.
• Set up fraud alerts and monitor accounts closely

• Methodology
  

  This study was conducted by SSRS on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform. The SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is a national, twice-per-month, probability-based survey. Data collection was conducted from January 16 – January 20, 2026, among a sample of 1,007 respondents. The survey was conducted via web (n=977) and telephone (n=30) and administered in English. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus data are weighted to represent the target population of U.S. adults ages 18 or older.