Nine out of ten Americans have encountered at least one digital scam or cyberattack, according to a new study from Consumer Reports, Aspen Digital and the Global Cyber Alliance. Consumer Reports CEO Phil Radford described the figure as nearly the entire population the organization serves. He said artificial intelligence is making fraud quicker, less costly and more tailored to individuals, and that consumers cannot outmatch the threat on their own. Radford added that companies must be held responsible and that governments need to establish real safeguards.
The research also pointed to a sharp decline in confidence about the privacy of sensitive information such as Social Security numbers and financial data. Twenty-nine percent of US adults said they were not confident at all, nearly double the 16 percent recorded in the annual survey's 2025 results. The share of adults who expressed confidence in the privacy of their sensitive data fell to 32 percent this year from 48 percent in 2025, according to the report.
Respondents described several steps they already take to protect themselves. Sixty-nine percent said they examine texts and emails closely before clicking on anything, 60 percent said they use multifactor authentication, and 48 percent said they enable automatic software updates. The report concluded that those individual efforts are not sufficient on their own.
Stacey Higginbotham, a policy fellow for Consumer Reports, said AI will make it simpler for scammers to produce personalized fraud at scale while reducing the work required to craft and send it. She pointed to recent incidents including the theft of FBI employees' data, targeting of home routers attributed to Russian military intelligence, and a fast-growing number of cybersecurity incidents tied to AI model testing and training.
Higginbotham said policymakers have not taken serious action despite measures that could curb scams. She noted that Congress could pass legislation such as the federal SCAM Act or the SAFE Platforms Act, which would penalize scammers who misuse online platforms. She said lawmakers could address the challenges of AI-enabled scams by reinforcing basic protections and raising the cost for companies that profit from scammers at consumers' expense.
For now, Higginbotham said the most important step for individuals is to follow common password practices, including using distinct strong passwords and turning on multifactor authentication. She also advised assessing every message from strangers, regardless of whether it appears to be a scam.
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