A first look at the findings
- 52.4% of respondents said they were the victim or target of a scam in the past 12 months.
- 87.1% are very or somewhat concerned about AI-related scams.
- 63.6% of respondents who reported scam or suspicious activity said a fraudster impersonated an organization or person.
The full report examines how those experiences affect consumer trust, purchasing behavior, marketplace activity, and the way people respond to impersonated brands.
Get the full 2026 AI & Consumer Fraud Report
Download the complete report for the full survey results, including consumer losses, AI-related concerns, brand impersonation, scam channels, marketplace fraud, purchasing behavior, and who consumers believe should be responsible for preventing scams.
What will you learn in the report?
The BrandShield AI & Consumer Fraud Report 2026 looks at how online fraud is changing the relationship between consumers, digital platforms, and the brands they trust.
- How widespread online scams have become and the types of harm consumers report after being targeted.
- How AI is changing consumer confidence and which AI-enabled scam tactics people find hardest to recognize.
- How brand impersonation affects trust even when consumers know the legitimate company was not responsible.
- Where scams are reaching consumers across social media, marketplaces, email, text, phone calls, ads, search, and other channels.
- How marketplace fraud changes shopping behavior and the steps consumers take after a negative experience.
- Who consumers expect to stop scams across platforms, marketplaces, brands, payment providers, regulators, and consumers themselves.
How is AI changing the fraud landscape?
Consumers are increasingly concerned that AI will make fraud harder to recognize. The full report explores how respondents view AI-generated websites, voice calls, videos, messages, product imagery, social profiles, and other forms of synthetic content.
Rather than one threat dominating, the findings point to a broader concern about whether consumers can continue to trust what they see and hear online.
Download the report to see the full breakdown of AI-related concerns.
What happens when scammers impersonate a brand?
Brand impersonation creates a business problem even when consumers know the real company was not responsible.
The report examines how people change their behavior after a brand-related scam, including whether they continue buying online, clicking advertisements, sharing information, or trusting digital channels associated with that brand.
The full report includes the complete behavioral breakdown.
Where are consumers encountering scams?
Scams no longer stay within one channel. Respondents reported encountering suspicious activity across social media, online marketplaces, text messages, phone calls, email, messaging applications, sponsored advertisements, search results, and fake ecommerce websites.
The full report shows how these channels compare and why brands need a broader view of the external digital environment.
What is happening on online marketplaces?
Marketplace fraud can change where and how consumers shop.
The report looks at experiences involving scams, counterfeits, suspicious sellers, and other marketplace risks. It also examines the actions consumers take afterward, including moving toward trusted sellers and official brand websites.
Download the report for the full marketplace data and platform-level findings.
Who do consumers expect to prevent scams?
Consumers see scam prevention as a shared responsibility.
The report compares the responsibility consumers place on scammers, platforms, sellers, brands, payment providers, regulators, and themselves.
The results show an important shift: consumers increasingly expect the organizations that control digital environments to play an active role in preventing fraud before it reaches them.
