According to a recent AP-NORC survey, most Americans are inundated with scam attempts on a daily basis, with about 3 in 10 having personally lost money or personal information to scams. The survey highlights the challenges U.S. adults face in navigating daily life while screening calls, ignoring messages, or trying to determine the legitimacy of urgent requests from their cellphone providers.
Scam Attempts are Constant
A separate survey conducted by Gallup and the Stop Scams Alliance found that about 1 in 10 U.S. adults said they or someone else in their household was deceived by a scammer into losing money or providing access to a financial account in the past year. Nearly half of these individuals reported losing more than $500.
Many Americans feel constantly at risk of falling for a scam, often without a sense of recourse. Few victims report scams to the federal government or local law enforcement, with many believing it won’t make a difference in recovering their losses.
Victims’ Experiences
Adam Pratter, 42, has personally experienced problems on dating apps, including sending money to someone claiming to be overseas due to military deployment. He realized it was a scam when the requests didn’t stop. Pratter believes banks and social media companies have a responsibility to help those who have been scammed and thinks the government should do more to address the issue.
Porschel Smith, 22, receives multiple scam calls and emails daily. While some scams are easy to identify, others can be more convincing, with scammers hacking into accounts and pretending to be someone she knows.
Reporting Scams
When people are scammed, they are more likely to reach out to financial institutions than the federal government or local law enforcement. About half of those scammed reported the incident to a bank, credit union, or other financial institution, while only 18% contacted state or local law enforcement, and 13% reported to federal law enforcement or the Federal Trade Commission.
Many victims don’t report scams because they don’t think it will help or don’t know where to report. Among those scammed in 2025, 75% said they didn’t report because they thought it wouldn’t make a difference in recovering their money, and 58% were uncertain about where to report.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
