Criminals are increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) tools to target Americans with greater scale and sophistication, according to a new analysis.
In its analysis released on April 16, credit agency TransUnion found that one in six American consumers said they lost money to digital fraud over the past year through scams conducted by email, online platforms, phone calls, or text messages. The median reported loss was $2,307.
According to the report, stolen credit card information obtained through phishing, website skimming, account takeovers, and other criminal tactics remains the leading driver of fraud losses in the United States. Some other leading causes include identity theft, account takeover, and third-party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce sites.
Although these patterns generally mirror global fraud trends, their impact is particularly pronounced in the United States because of the country’s high volume of digital transactions, TransUnion said. It also stated that with AI technologies, fraudsters are able to target individuals and businesses more effectively.
“Criminals are weaponizing both consumer trust and emerging technologies,” said Naureen Ali, head of TransUnion’s U.S. fraud division. “As [generative AI] accelerates the sophistication and scale of criminal operations, the threat landscape is evolving faster than ever for U.S. consumers and businesses.”
The report also found notable generational differences. In the United States, members of Gen Z reported the highest level of fraud-related losses: 38 percent said they had lost money. TransUnion said this likely has to do with younger consumers’ heavier use of gaming platforms, cryptocurrency exchanges, and social apps, all of which are frequently targeted by fraudsters.
To reduce the risk of fraud, the report recommended using strong, unique passwords for each account, relying on a password manager, and enabling two-factor authentication.
It also advised consumers to regularly check their credit reports and place a freeze on their credit files with major credit bureaus if they believe they have been targeted or victimized by fraud.
The analysis was based on a global survey of 12,730 consumers across 18 countries and regions, along with data drawn from billions of transactions across 40,000 websites and apps in TransUnion’s proprietary intelligence network.
Its findings echo concerns raised in the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report released earlier this month, which found that cyber-enabled crimes cost Americans nearly $21 billion over the past year.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, up from 859,532 in 2024.
Like the TransUnion report, the IC3 data identified phishing and spoofing as the most common crime type, appearing in 191,561 complaints, followed by extortion, which appeared in 89,129 complaints. But in dollar terms, investment scams caused the greatest harm, accounting for more than $8.6 billion in losses, even though they generated fewer complaints than extortion.
Most of those investment fraud cases involved cryptocurrency. According to the FBI, 72 percent of such incidents involved crypto, totaling $7.2 billion in reported losses. These schemes often take the form of long-running cons that persuade victims to invest increasingly large sums of money.
The IC3 report also documented the growing use of AI in cybercrime. In 2025, more than 22,000 complaints included AI-related elements, which resulted in losses exceeding $893 million. The FBI warned that AI-generated text and deepfakes are becoming increasingly lifelike, making scams harder to detect, especially when fraudsters use them to provoke panic and pressure victims into acting quickly.
