A new survey from the association representing certified financial planners offers a sobering backdrop for an industry whose business depends on consumers answering the phone, opening the email, and trusting that the person on the other end is legitimate. As scammers grow more sophisticated, the credit and collection sector increasingly competes for attention against a flood of fraud that has made consumers wary of nearly every financial contact.
The survey found that 62% of consumers have either encountered financial fraud or know someone who has in the past three years. Phishing and smishing topped the list of scam types at 62%, followed by imposter scams at 51%, in which fraudsters pose as banks, the IRS or other trusted institutions. Text messages, email and phone calls remain the most common delivery channels, cited by 57%, 55% and 54% of respondents, the same channels collection agencies rely on every day.
That overlap matters. When more than half of consumers expect they or someone close to them will be targeted in the next 12 months, legitimate outreach risks being lumped in with the noise. Confidence in spotting fraud is uneven. Only 37% of Americans say they could identify every form of financial fraud, and 29% are unsure they could detect any attempt. Older consumers are notably less confident than younger ones, a gap relevant to agencies serving aging populations.
The findings also illuminate consumer behavior after suspected fraud. Roughly a quarter of victims lost money, and most losses came in under $500. Yet many stayed silent. One in four victims who skipped contacting law enforcement cited embarrassment or shame, while 38% of those who reported nothing simply did not know whom to contact. Notably, 76% were unaware that fraud losses generally cannot be deducted on federal income taxes.
For collectors, the report reinforces a familiar tension. Consumers are primed to assume the worst, and the rise of AI-generated voices, deepfakes and personalized phishing only deepens that suspicion. Agencies that lead with verifiable identification, clear callback channels and transparent communication may find those practices double as trust signals in a skeptical environment.
