Alloy's Scams Report Reveals Consumers Want Help from Their FIs
- Roy Urrico
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Roy Urrico
Two-thirds of consumers (67%) believe their financial institution (FI) should reimburse them for money lost in a scam, even when they personally authorized the transaction. That is among the findings in Alloy's 2025 State of Scams Report, which found scams on the rise in addition to confusion over who is responsible for them.
This report from New York City-based Alloy, which delivers identity risk solutions to organizations that offer financial products, focused on consumer expectations of their financial institutions and how advancing technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping their trust. The report is based on an online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults (ages 21–75) conducted by The Harris Poll, July 8 to July 26, 2025, on behalf of Alloy.
Scams have become a defining challenge for modern banking, claimed the report. It pointed to 73% of Americans having experienced some form of online scam, per the Pew Research Center; and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) documenting 2.6 million fraud incidents, and $12.5 billion consumer fraud losses, in 2024 alone.
“Consumers expect their financial institutions to help protect them. I was really surprised to see that 97% of consumers now say fraud prevention is their top priority when choosing where to bank. That beat out interest rates, costs, and more which is really telling of where consumers’ priorities have shifted,” said Sara Seguin, principal advisor on fraud and identity risk, for Alloy who spoke with Finopotamus about the State of Scams Report. (Seguin was the focus of an Infosec People Profile in March 2025.)
Keying On Some of the Survey Results
“What makes this moment unprecedented isn’t just scale, but speed. AI-powered scams are evolving faster than consumers or financial institutions can adapt to on their own. Consumers and financial organizations are defending against the same threats in real time, creating a rare moment of mutual vulnerability and dependence,” said Alloy's State of Scams Report.
“It was really interesting to see a few things,” noted Seguin. Such as:
“First, just how many people are reporting being impacted by scams, 62% of Americans have either been victims of a scam or know someone who has; and realistically that number is higher if you think about how many people are scammed today via text, phone and email on a daily basis and don’t even track it anymore.”
“Among those people who have fallen victim to a scam, the costs can be high, 21% reported losing $5,000 or more.”
“Consumers also want a seamless experience without sacrificing security, 69% surveyed said they believe opening an account should take under 10 minutes.”
Other Findings:
Americans say they are responsible for protecting themselves from scams (39%) than their financial institutions (36%).
Younger generations report the highest and most frequent losses. Nearly one in four (23%) Gen Z and millennial scam victims lost $5,000 or more — a hit three times bigger than the average cost of rent.
Nearly seven in 10 consumers (69%) expect new account sign-up to take less than 10 minutes, and six in 10 (59%) said the process is often too slow or too demanding.
Top concerns include fake banking calls (28%), and voice cloning (21%).
Only 63% report scams to FIs.
Just 17% switch FIs after being scammed.
Consumer Expectations
“Advancements in technology have provided fraudsters the ability to be more efficient and gather more intelligence so they can present attics on a larger scale, and at times, make the scam more customized to the individual,” said Sequin. “A single criminal can now launch thousands of personalized attacks in minutes, creating fake bank websites, cloning voices and generating synthetic identities that look completely legitimate.”
AI presents a paradox for consumers. While 85% worry AI is making scams harder to detect, 69% are willing to share more data for AI-powered protection.
The report points to the 87% of customers who would lose trust in their bank if it failed to notify them about an attempted scam. “Financial institutions have a huge opportunity here with 66% of consumers more likely to choose a bank that uses AI for protection, so the institutions that get this right will win both trust and market share,” shared Seguin.
Among the other top concerns, noted Seguin: “Twenty-nine percent of victims say the emotional distress took as much of a toll as losing money. People feel angry, anxious, confused and violated.”
Seguin advised for FIs that have the right policies, data and flexibility to detect and react to scams and fraud, the threat is there but it is manageable; “In fact, many FIs have been able to evolve their fraud prevention approach in a way that it is now part of their competitive advantage. But for FIs that have to rely on slowing or shutting down channels to manage attacks it’s a different story.”
Alloy provides an identity and fraud prevention platform that helps financial institutions optimize growth and manage risk, explained Seguin. “Alloy’s experience with 700-plus clients and 250-plus pre-integrated data solutions offers clear insight into how credit unions can protect themselves from fraud without sacrificing the member experience. In working with credit unions nationwide, we’ve seen the most effective fraud prevention programs address risk as an ongoing relationship, not a one-time event.”