Unmasking Scambiguity: Tackling the Scam Threat With Clarity and Confidence

Despite efforts to reduce the effectiveness of scams, the United States continues to struggle with controlling scam activity. Javelin Strategy & Research findings show that of the $47 billion lost to identity fraud and scams in 2024, scams accounted for nearly $20 billion, affecting 22 million U.S. adult victims, 4 million more victims than those affected by identity fraud. Consumers are inundated with scam communications daily, which cross various communication channels and social media platforms. Thus, interactions with scammers are nearly impossible to avoid. Scams continue to evolve in ways that are increasingly complex for many consumers to detect, largely due to criminals’ use of artificial intelligence to craft convincing messages that pose as legitimate business entities and banks. 

Consumer scam education and awareness efforts have been underway in the United States for several years; however, most scams continue to cause harm to consumers due to unintentional ambiguity surrounding these criminal acts. Without standard definitions of scam types, published trends, and updated loss metrics collected and analyzed from entities across the public and private sectors, many consumers are aware only of what their financial institution deems important enough to share with them. The United States must begin to prioritize the fight against scams, taking notice of how global leaders are protecting their constituencies from the devastating effects of scams, leaning into collaboration and innovation.

Foreword

This report, sponsored by BioCatch, explores five key scam typologies (purchase scams, romance scams, investment scams, bank impostor scams, and government agent impostor scams) currently used by criminals to target various groups of U.S. consumers, as well as the barriers to better scam awareness for consumers. 

This report also explores international efforts to combat scams and the key elements of advanced scam detection and prevention technology. This report was adapted from the 2025 Identity Fraud Study: Breaking Barriers to Innovation, published by Javelin Strategy & Research in March 2025. Javelin Strategy & Research maintains complete independence in its data collection, findings, and analysis.