NEW YORK–A new survey won’t surprise many in credit unions, finding many Americans feel they are being bombarded by scam emails and texts that are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to identify.
The survey, conducted by U.S. News, polled 1,252 American adults via PureSpectrum between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3, 2026, asked respondents how often they’re targeted by fraudsters, whether they’ve lost money and how they’ve altered their habits to combat financial scams.
The survey further explored Americans’ opinions on who bears the most responsibility for preventing scams and whether they’re worried about the emergence of AI on their future financial health.
The Findings
Among the findings, according to U.S. News:
- 46% say they receive communications they suspect are scams on a daily basis.
- 77% say suspected scammers target them at least once a week.
- 23% of respondents say they’ve lost money to a financial scam within the past three years. Of those, the median amount lost to fraud was $250, and the average amount lost was $1,917. Just 36% of those who lost money to a scam say they recovered the funds.
- 77% say they’ve changed their online behavior or financial habits to protect themselves against scams. Among those changes, many say they’re more likely to ignore or delete communications from unknown senders, and others say they’ve become much more cautious about providing their personal information over the phone or via text or email, U.S. News said.
- 67% say they believe AI will put their financial health at risk.
- 79% say scams are becoming harder to identify as fraudsters use AI tools to make their schemes more sophisticated.
Who’s Responsible?
U.S. News said it found opinions are divided concerning who bears the most responsibility for preventing scams.
“Nearly two in five respondents (39%) say it’s up to individual consumers to protect themselves, while 32% put the chief responsibility on banks and financial institutions,” U.S. News reported. “About 30% say the government/law enforcement is the group that must step up first to tamp down on scammers.”
