Pew Research

Online Shopping Scams Hit 1 in 3 Americans: How to Shop Safely This Season If you’ve ever clicked a “too good to be true” deal and ended up with nothing but an empty bank account, you’re not alone. A new survey from Pew Research Center, fielded in November 2025, found that about one-third of U.S. adults say they have personally experienced an online shopping scam. The numbers are a reminder that, even for careful shoppers, fraudulent sites and offers are increasingly common. ...

One in Three Americans Has Fallen for an Online Shopping Scam: What You Need to Know If you’ve ever clicked on a deal that seemed too good to be true, only to end up with nothing but an empty bank account, you’re not alone. A recent study from Pew Research Center, published in November 2025, found that about a third of Americans say they’ve experienced an online shopping scam. That’s roughly 33 percent of online shoppers who have been deceived, lost money, or had their personal information stolen while trying to buy something online. With the holiday shopping season in full swing, understanding how these scams work and how to protect yourself is more important than ever. ...

One in Three Americans Have Been Scammed While Shopping Online – Here’s How to Stay Safe A new survey from the Pew Research Center has quantified what many consumers already suspect: online shopping scams are disturbingly common. According to the November 2025 report, about a third of U.S. adults (33%) say they have personally experienced an online shopping scam. That figure translates into tens of millions of people who have paid for goods that never arrived, handed over payment details to fake storefronts, or clicked on phony order confirmations that led to identity theft. ...

One in Three Americans Hit by Online Shopping Scams – Here’s How to Avoid Them If you’ve ever been taken in by a too-good-to-be-true online deal, you’re not alone. According to recent data from the Pew Research Center, about a third of U.S. adults say they have experienced an online shopping scam. That’s a striking number, and it lines up with Federal Trade Commission reports showing that online shopping fraud was the second most reported scam category in 2024. While e‑commerce is convenient, the same tools that let you buy anything from a phone also give scammers a direct line to your wallet. This article breaks down what’s happening, why it matters, and what you can actually do about it. ...

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans Has Been Scammed While Shopping Online – Here’s What to Watch For Intro If you’ve ever clicked a too-good-to-be-true deal on social media or entered payment details on a sketchy website, you’re far from alone. A new survey from the Pew Research Center found that roughly one in three Americans say they have experienced an online shopping scam. The figure underscores how common these schemes have become—and why taking a few extra seconds before hitting “buy” can save you both money and frustration. ...

1 in 3 Americans Have Been Scammed While Shopping Online – Here’s How to Stay Safe If you’ve ever clicked “buy” on a deal that looked too good to be true, then watched the package never arrive, you’re far from alone. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about a third of American adults say they have experienced an online shopping scam. That’s roughly 80 million people, and the number has been climbing steadily as more of our spending shifts to digital storefronts. ...

1 in 3 Americans Got Scammed Shopping Online: Here’s How to Avoid It If you shop online—and most of us do—you’ve probably wondered whether that unbelievable deal or unfamiliar website is legitimate. New data from the Pew Research Center, released in November 2025, suggests that your caution is warranted. According to a national survey conducted in July 2025, about one in three U.S. adults say they have personally experienced an online shopping scam. ...

New Survey: How Americans Really Feel About Sharing Their Data with AI If you’ve ever hesitated before typing a prompt into ChatGPT or worried about what an AI chatbot does with your personal information, you aren’t alone. Recent survey data shows that a growing number of Americans are skeptical about how their data is handled by artificial intelligence tools—and they want the government to step in. ...

What Americans Really Think About Sharing Their Data With AI Artificial intelligence tools are now woven into daily life—drafting emails, summarizing meetings, and suggesting what to buy. But as these systems become more capable, they also become more hungry for personal data. How do Americans feel about that tradeoff? New surveys from the Pew Research Center and other sources provide a clearer picture. ...

One in Three Americans Has Fallen for an Online Shopping Scam: How to Protect Yourself If you shop online regularly, you’ve probably heard the warnings: don’t click suspicious links, avoid deals that seem too good to be true, use a credit card instead of a debit card. But despite those caveats, the problem persists—and recent data shows just how many people are affected. ...