Nearly three in four US scam victims report mental health harm, poll finds
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xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoBy Al Jazeera staffPublished On 1 Jul 20261 Jul 2026A tenth of adults in the United States directly or indirectly experienced a scam last year, adversely affecting their financial and emotional wellbeing, according to a new Gallup poll.
The report by Gallup released on Tuesday indicated that 6 percent of US adults were personally scammed in 2025, while 4 percent experienced a scam indirectly, with someone in their household affected. Scams are a widespread problem in the country, with Gallup noting that they can leave victims more cautious, less likely to shop online, and more hesitant to engage with unfamiliar businesses. “The data suggest the cost of scams extends beyond what can be measured in dollars, as nearly three in four victims say the experience negatively affected their mental health or wellbeing,” the report stated.
The poll suggested that people from lower-income households were more likely than wealthier people to report being scammed. Adults with less than a bachelor’s degree were more likely to report being scammed than those with a bachelor’s degree or higher – 7 percent versus 4 percent, Gallup found. Black (8 percent) and Hispanic (9 percent) adults were also more likely than white adults (5 percent) to say they had been scammed.
However, victimisation rates did not differ by age, the report stated. In more than half of the scams reported to Gallup, people lost $500 or less. However, the average loss per scam was $5,578, as some scams reached tens of thousands of dollars, the report said.
In total, the financial toll of scams in 2025 was estimated at $68bn, amounting to an average of $186m stolen each day.
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