About a third of Americans say they’ve had an online shopping scam happen to them

Most Americans view online shopping scams as a serious problem: a Pew Research Center April 2025 survey found 85% of U.S. adults say scams on shopping sites/apps are a problem (50% major), 73% have experienced at least one online scam or attack, including 48% reporting stolen card data and fraudulent charges and 36% reporting purchases that were counterfeit or never delivered and not refunded. Incidence is higher among adults under 30 (42%) and Hispanic (43%)/Black (41%) respondents; FTC data show 387,398 online shopping fraud reports in 2024 with $434.4m in reported losses (median loss $130), and 74% of victims said they did not report incidents. The prevalence and underreporting of e‑commerce fraud raise risks to consumer confidence and could increase costs and regulatory scrutiny for retailers, payment processors and cybersecurity vendors.

Analysis

A Pew Research Center survey conducted April 14-20, 2025 finds 85% of U.S. adults view scams on shopping sites/apps as a problem and 50% call them a major problem, while 73% report having experienced at least one online scam or attack. Specific incident rates in the survey include 48% reporting stolen credit/debit card data and fraudulent charges, 36% reporting purchases that were counterfeit or never arrived and were not refunded, 29% reporting account takeovers, 24% reporting phishing-style solicitations, 10% reporting ransomware and 7% reporting fake investment solicitations; 12% said they experienced an issue in the past year.

FTC Consumer Sentinel data show 387,398 online-shopping fraud reports in 2024 (up from 2022–23 but down from 462,949 in 2021) with reported losses of $434.4 million and a median victim loss of $130; survey respondents indicate 74% of those who lost money did not report the incident, implying undercounting of true economic impact. Demographic patterns matter for channel risk: adults under 30 (42%) and Hispanic (43%) and Black (41%) respondents report higher shopping-scam incidence than older and White respondents, and 92% of adults buy online.

The combination of high consumer concern, measurable reported losses, and underreporting implies rising reputational, operational and compliance costs for e-commerce merchants, payment processors and platforms, while creating demand opportunities for cybersecurity and fraud-prevention vendors; the provided sentiment score is moderately negative (-0.4) and market impact is modest (0.32), supporting a cautious near-term outlook for vulnerable retail and payment exposures.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Increase exposure to cybersecurity and fraud-prevention vendors and payment processors with proven anti-fraud suites, given survey-backed consumer concern and rising FTC-reported losses
• Trim or underweight pure-play e-commerce retailers and marketplaces that lack clear fraud-mitigation track records or carry high chargeback and reputational risk going into the holiday season
• Monitor monthly FTC Consumer Sentinel reports, chargeback and refund trends, and platform-specific complaint rates as leading indicators to re-assess retail and fintech positions
• Use hedges or reduce cyclical exposure ahead of potential regulatory actions or seasonal spikes in fraud-driven losses, and favor companies with transparent incident reporting and remediation metrics