“Financial Scams and Consumer Trust,” a PYMNTS Intelligence report commissioned by Block, examines how the rise of digital scams is undermining the confidence powering everyday banking, commerce and payments. Drawing on a survey of 15,110 United States consumers conducted from Sept. 9, 2025, to Sept. 22, 2025, the report reveals how fraud has evolved from a personal nuisance to a systemic trust challenge. Nearly four in 10 U.S. households have fallen victim to scams in the past five years. Losses from these scams range from a few hundred dollars in gift-card or tech-support schemes to thousands of dollars in investment and Social Security scams. What’s most surprising is who’s getting hit: younger, affluent and college-educated consumers, the very group long assumed to be the most digitally savvy.
The research shows that scammers are adapting as quickly as the technology itself. They’re using AI-enhanced impersonation tactics, social-media lures and real-time payment systems to separate victims from their funds. In 81% of successful cases, criminals pretended to be trusted authorities, friendly strangers or known contacts. The speed is astonishing. Nearly two-thirds of victims made payments within 24 hours of first contact. For banks and financial institutions, that means fraud prevention is no longer just about blocking bad transactions. It’s about protecting the customer relationship before it breaks.
In “Financial Scams and Consumer Trust,” learn how:
- Speed fuels vulnerability. Real-time payments and instant communication channels give scammers a dangerous edge. This forces banks to rethink how to build friction that protects, not frustrates.
- Scams reshape digital behavior. Victims often retreat from online life, reducing their eCommerce, social-media and mobile-banking activity. These behaviors carry direct consequences for engagement and growth.
- Trust becomes the ultimate currency. Consumers who recover funds report dramatically higher confidence in their banks. Those who don’t often leave altogether, underscoring why trust recovery must be as strategic as fraud recovery.
The findings offer a wake-up call for an always-on, instant-pay world, where the next scam can spread faster than the next transaction and where rebuilding trust may be the toughest fraud challenge of all.
About the Report
“Financial Scams and Consumer Trust,” a PYMNTS Intelligence report commissioned by Block, is based on a U.S. census-balanced survey of 15,110 U.S. consumers conducted from Sept. 9, 2025, to Sept. 22, 2025. The report examines how scams harm consumers and the impact this has on their banking relationships.
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