Fraud and scams pose a significant threat to U.S. households and are an urgent national security crisis. This brief highlights new findings on the prevalence of fraud and scams in the United States, based on an analysis of data from the Understanding America Survey (UAS).
The survey, conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, asked respondents about their experiences with fraud and scams, whether and how often they had lost money, and their experiences of being made to feel blamed when reporting fraud and scam losses to their institutions. Regardless of the loss amount, the data paints a clear compelling picture: Scams are impacting people of all ages, genders, and income levels, as well as those across various geographies and educational backgrounds.
Key insights include:
- While fraud and scams are often perceived as targeting older Americans, UAS data show people of all ages, incomes, and backgrounds are affected.
- Scam victims are often revictimized—and across all age groups, income levels, and educational backgrounds, only adults earning less than $50,000 reported higher rates of multiple scam or fraud attempts.
- Most victims reported their fraud or scam to their financial institution after they had money taken from their account, but few reported it to law enforcement or asked others for help.
- Some populations are more likely to feel blamed when they seek help than others.
Read the full brief to learn more about these insights, see our recommendation for a unified measurement framework, and consider areas for future study.
Note: The project described in this paper relies on data from a survey administered by the Understanding America Study, which is maintained by the Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California. The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of USC or UAS.
This report is a product of Aspen FSP. We thank JPMorganChase, Zelle, Target, Block, Flourish Ventures, Amazon, CLEAR, and Plaid for their generous support of the Task Force and this report, as well as our impact partners AARP and Stop Scams Alliance. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this report—as well as any errors—are Aspen FSP’s alone and do not necessarily represent the views of its funders or other National Task Force on Fraud and Scams participants.
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