A new survey from Truecaller, the global platform for safe communication, reveals that AI-powered scams have escalated from an emerging threat to a crisis that is costing Americans money, eroding trust, and causing widespread avoidance of phone calls and text messages. The 2026 Phone Fraud & AI Threat Survey, based on responses from 1,614 U.S. adults, found that 75% of respondents were targeted by a scam call or text in the past 12 months, and 84% are more concerned about the threat than a year ago.
The impact on everyday behavior is stark: 82% of respondents reported ignoring important calls or texts out of fear it was a scam, a sharp increase from 59% in Truecaller's 2024 survey. For the 33% who rely on calls and texts for work, this avoidance carries real professional consequences. 'People are no longer just screening spam — they're screening out real life,' said Clayton LiaBraaten, senior executive advisor at Truecaller. 'When people miss calls from doctors, schools, clients and family members because they can't tell what's real, this stops being a nuisance. It becomes a trust crisis.'
AI-powered scams are no longer hypothetical. In the past 12 months, 30% of respondents received a deepfake voice call impersonating a family member, celebrity, or political figure that felt more convincing than previous scams. The financial toll is significant: one in four respondents fell victim to a scam that cost them money, with 7% losing more than $250. Among those who lost money, 53% had received a deepfake voice call, compared to just 22% of those who were targeted but did not lose money. Identity theft has surpassed direct financial loss as the top concern for the coming year, yet half of respondents admitted they would not know the exact steps to protect their identity or recover lost funds.
Distrust in institutional safeguards compounds the problem. 75% of respondents say the U.S. government is not adequately protecting consumers from AI-driven scams, and 39% say recent regulatory changes, including shifts in funding and staffing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, have undermined their confidence in scam-prevention efforts. Despite this, 63% of respondents do not use any third-party app or service beyond their carrier's built-in tools to block scam calls or texts. When asked what matters most in a protection solution, respondents ranked automatic blocking of fraudulent calls first, followed by unknown caller identification — functions where default tools often fall short.
'What we're witnessing is a full-blown communication paralysis crisis where millions of people are so afraid of being scammed that they've stopped answering their phones altogether,' said LiaBraaten. 'As AI grows in sophistication and makes scams more convincing, default tools simply can't keep up. People deserve tools that evolve faster than the threats they face, and our mission is to build trust in communication and help people know who's really on the other end to restore confidence in picking up the phone.'
Truecaller, which is used by more than 500 million users worldwide, recommends consumers download a trusted caller ID application, never share sensitive personal or financial information over the phone, avoid clicking unknown links in text messages, register with the Do Not Call list, report fraudulent calls, and take time to verify caller identity before responding. Additional survey findings are available from Truecaller Insights. To learn more about Truecaller, visit www.truecaller.com.
