More than one in five U.S. adults have experienced financial fraud or scams involving their money, with older adults more likely to experience fraud than younger individuals, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve.
The Fed this week released its report on the Economic Well-being of U.S. Households in 2024, which surveyed individuals on a wide range of financial topics. Among other things, the survey found that 73% of adults said they were doing okay financially or living comfortably, a figure largely unchanged from the year before.
For the first time in the survey’s history, the Fed asked respondents about their experience with fraud and scams. Credit card fraud was the most reported type of fraud at 17% of respondents. Adults ages 45 and older were more likely than younger adults to experience financial fraud or scams, largely driven by their higher rates of experiencing credit card-related fraud, according to the survey.
While only 8% reported financial fraud not involving credit cards, 63% of that group said they lost money, with roughly a third saying their money was not recovered. The total amount of non-credit-card fraud was an estimated $84 billion in 2024.
Other findings from the report:
- Six percent of adults were unbanked in 2024, the same percentage as the previous three years.
- Eight percent of adults used cryptocurrency either as an investment or for making financial transactions. That figure has remained roughly the same in recent years.
- Sixty-two percent of adults felt very confident their credit card application would be approved if they were to apply, down from 65% in 2021. Still, credit confidence remained at the same level as 2019, before the pandemic.
- Fifteen percent of people used buy now, pay later products in the past 12 months, up from 14% in 2023 and 10% in 2021, when the survey first asked about BNPL.
