Consumer Reports: 9 in 10 Americans faced cyberattack or online scam

Nine out of ten Americans have faced at least one cyberattack attempt or online scam, according to the 2026 Consumer Cyber Readiness Report published by Consumer Reports.

Ninety-One Percent Face Attacks While Seventeen Percent Lose Money

Despite the high volume of incoming threats, the majority of respondents did not fall victim to the attempts. Approximately 17 percent of those surveyed reported losing money in a scam or cyberattack. The average financial loss amounted to $235 per victim.

Recovery outcomes varied among those who suffered financial losses. One in ten respondents lost their money permanently, while the remaining 7 percent managed to recover the stolen funds.

Email Leads Delivery Methods As Social Engineering Rises

Email served as the most common vector for scams, accounting for nearly a third of all cases. Text messages and messaging apps ranked second at 18 percent, followed by phone calls at 11 percent and social media at 10 percent. Roughly one in five respondents could not remember the origin point of the scam they encountered.

Social engineering tactics were central to converting targets into victims. One in three phone call scams featured personalized calls, and one in 20 respondents handed over login details after falling for a scheme. These findings coincide with an increase in artificial intelligence-assisted scam attempts, where bad actors utilize personal information found online to generate convincing emails and spoofed phone calls. The survey did not track the exact frequency of artificial intelligence involvement due to the difficulty for laypeople to detect it.

Only One Third Trust Corporate Data Privacy Practices

Consumer skepticism extends beyond direct attacks to how corporations handle personal information. The report revealed that only a third of respondents felt confident that companies kept their sensitive data private.