No matter where you live in the U.S., AI-driven scams and deceptive content are increasingly filling our feeds, alerts, and inboxes with moments that make us stop and ask: “Is this real?”
But the scams and threats Americans encounter aren’t the same everywhere. Where you live can shape the types of scams reaching your devices, how often you encounter them, and even how those experiences affect the way you behave online.
This 50-state breakdown combines McAfee consumer research with McAfee Labs data to show how Americans are experiencing scams, how those experiences are affecting trust and behavior online, and which text-based scams are reaching devices across the country.
The consumer findings come from a nationally representative survey of 5,000 U.S. adults, with 100 respondents in each state. The survey explores people’s exposure to scams, financial losses, changing online behaviors, concerns about AI and the mental effort involved in deciding what to trust online.
Alongside those findings, McAfee Labs analyzed text-based scam activity across the U.S. from May through July 2026. That data provides a view into the volume, concentration and types of scam texts McAfee observed in each state during the three-month analysis period.
Together, the two datasets offer different views of the same problem: what people say they are experiencing and how it affects them, alongside the scam activity McAfee is seeing in the wild.
Key takeaway: Alabama had the highest scam-text rate per device in McAfee’s analysis, while scam concerns are also changing how residents behave online.
McAfee detected 5.14 scam texts per device, the highest rate in the country.
Key takeaway: Alaska has one of the widest gaps between rising trust fatigue and active checking: 54% report more mental effort, but only 44% verify online content at least weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams were the leading text-scam category detected in Alaska.
Key takeaway: Arizonans are feeling a pronounced trust burden, with 65% saying it now takes more mental energy to decide what’s real online.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Arizona’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Arkansas residents are relatively active verifiers: 64% check online legitimacy at least weekly even though only about half report greater mental strain.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Arkansas text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: California has one of the heaviest trust burdens in the survey: 72% say figuring out what’s real online now takes more mental energy.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led California’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Colorado’s clearest signal is concern about AI-enabled scams, shared by 85% of residents surveyed.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Colorado’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Connecticut residents report rising trust fatigue, yet fewer than half say they verify online content every week.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Connecticut’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Delaware stands out for exposure to synthetic imagery, with 46% encountering an AI-generated image presented as real.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Delaware’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Floridians are active online reality-checkers, with 63% verifying messages, offers, websites or people at least weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Florida text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Georgia had the second-highest scam-text-per-device rate highlighted by McAfee, at 4.67.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Georgia’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Hawaii had the country’s highest scam intensity among affected devices: those receiving at least one scam text averaged 8.45 over three months.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Hawaii’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Idaho shows a sizeable trust gap: 62% report greater mental effort deciding what’s real, while 49% verify online content weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Idaho’s text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Two-thirds of Illinois residents say deciding what’s real online is taking more mental energy than a year ago.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Illinois text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Indiana’s scam anxiety is translating into caution: 81% are concerned about AI making scams harder to recognize and 60% verify online content weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Indiana text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Iowa residents report relatively restrained checking behavior: 47% verify online content at least weekly despite 55% reporting greater mental effort.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Iowa text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Kansas has one of the bleakest recovery pictures in the survey: 75% of scam victims who lost money recovered none of it.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Kansas text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Kentucky is the standout verification state: 76% say they check whether online content is legitimate at least weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Kentucky text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Louisiana combines comparatively low trust fatigue with severe financial consequences: 73% of victims who lost money recovered none of it.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Louisiana text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Maine is one of only two states where toll and traffic scams, rather than investment and crypto scams, ranked first in McAfee’s text telemetry.
Toll and traffic violation scams were Maine’s leading text-scam category.
Key takeaway: Marylanders show particularly high concern about AI-enabled fraud, with 86% saying AI is making scams harder to recognize.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Maryland text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Massachusetts has a striking trust gap: 65% report more mental effort deciding what’s real, but only 48% verify online content at least weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Massachusetts text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Michigan joins Maine as the only state where toll and traffic scams outranked investment and cryptocurrency scams.
Toll and traffic violation scams were Michigan’s leading text-scam category.
Key takeaway: Minnesota records the highest AI-scam concern in the state crosstabs, at 91%.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Minnesota text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Mississippi had one of the heaviest scam-text loads in McAfee’s analysis, averaging roughly 4.64 scam texts per device.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Mississippi text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Missouri residents show a confidence problem around AI scams: 13% said they were not at all confident spotting AI-created or AI-enhanced fraud.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Missouri text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Montana has the highest reported exposure to AI-generated images presented as real, at 51%.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Montana text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Nebraska’s strongest signal is AI concern: 87% say AI is making online scams harder to recognize.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Nebraska text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Nevada has the broadest reported scam exposure in the survey, with 95% encountering at least one type of scam in the past year.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Nevada text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: New Hampshire shows another trust gap: 59% report more mental effort figuring out what’s real, while 46% verify online content weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led New Hampshire text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: New Jersey residents report unusually frequent scam exposure, with 30% saying they encounter four or more scam attempts on a typical day.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led New Jersey text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: New Mexico has one of the toughest scam-recovery pictures: 72% of victims who lost money recovered none of it.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led New Mexico text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: New York’s most striking behavioral signal is comparatively low retailer avoidance: 33% have stayed away from unfamiliar sellers because of scam concerns.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led New York text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: North Carolina stands out on recovery: 42% of scam victims who lost money said they recovered all of it.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led North Carolina text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: North Dakota had the country’s highest concentration of scams in analyzed text traffic, at 2.8%.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led North Dakota text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Ohio stands out for financial harm: 41% of respondents say they lost money to an online scam in the past year.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Ohio text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Oklahoma consumers are feeling the mental load of navigating AI-powered scams: 85% are concerned AI is making scams harder to recognize, while half say figuring out what’s real online requires more mental effort.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Oklahoma text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Oregon scam concerns are spilling into ordinary digital life, with 45% avoiding new apps, websites or services.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Oregon text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Pennsylvania has one of the heavier trust burdens in the survey, with 67% saying figuring out what’s real takes more mental energy.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Pennsylvania text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Rhode Island scam concerns are affecting legitimate online behavior: 42% have avoided clicking a real message or link.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Rhode Island text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: South Carolina has a confidence problem around AI scams: 13% say they are not at all confident identifying AI-created or AI-enhanced fraud.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led South Carolina text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: South Dakota’s scam response is relatively restrained compared with many states, with 35% avoiding unfamiliar retailers and 29% avoiding legitimate links.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led South Dakota text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Tennessee residents report rising trust fatigue without matching verification habits: 59% feel more mental strain, but 48% verify weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Tennessee text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Texas is one of the more active verification states, with 62% checking online legitimacy at least weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Texas text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Utah has one of the highest levels of exposure to AI-generated imagery, with 49% seeing an AI image presented as real.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Utah text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Vermont has a sizeable trust-versus-action gap: 58% report more mental effort online while 47% verify content weekly.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Vermont text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Virginia reports comparatively low exposure to AI-generated images presented as real, at 34%, even as concern about AI scams remains high.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Virginia text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Washington has one of the highest levels of AI-scam concern in the survey, at 86%.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Washington text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: West Virginia has one of the lower weekly verification rates in the survey, at 45%, despite a majority reporting greater trust fatigue.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led West Virginia text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Wisconsin shows relatively high exposure to synthetic imagery: 46% have encountered an AI-generated image presented as real.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Wisconsin text-scam volume.
Key takeaway: Wyoming has the most distressing scam-loss recovery story in the survey: 76% of victims who lost money recovered none of it.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams led Wyoming text-scam volume.
The post What Scams Look Like in Your State: A 50-State Breakdown appeared first on McAfee Blog.
There is a small tax many of us pay in our everyday interactions without even realizing it.
A package notification arrives, and we stop to check whether we actually ordered something. A recruiter reaches out about a job, but before replying, we research the person and the company. A bank alert appears, and instead of tapping the link, we open the banking app ourselves.
These are sensible habits. But McAfee’s latest research suggests the effort behind them is increasing the average American’s every day mental load.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans (74%) say they feel the need to double-check most things online before trusting them. Sixty-two percent say figuring out what is real takes more mental energy than it did a year ago.
That growing burden is one reason McAfee is introducing a new brand and product experience built around a broader idea of what protection should do. Good security shouldn’t demand more of people’s attention. It should help give some of it back.
That’s why the new McAfee experience is designed to do more than protect individual devices. It helps protect the things people rely on every day, their personal information, connections, devices, and accounts, all while making it clearer what’s safe, what needs attention, and what McAfee can handle for them.
Get quick alerts and easily update protections in McAfee’s app
That matters at a moment when attention is already stretched thin. AI is everywhere, and it has made it easier to produce convincing content at an enormous scale, adding to an already crowded attention economy. Increasingly, ordinary moments come with an extra question: Is this real?
And those questions have consequences. Our research found that 82% of Americans have changed how they behave online because of scams. Some have stopped buying from unfamiliar retailers. Others have ignored communications that turned out to be legitimate. Eighteen percent say scam concerns have even caused them to avoid responding to a job opportunity.
“I’ve accused my doctor’s office of being an AI,” says McAfee Threat Researcher Charles McFarland, recounting a time when even he thought something legitimate was fraudulent. “I had to apologize.”
Financial losses remain a serious part of the picture. Nearly one-third of Americans (31%) reported losing money to a scam in the past year. But measuring scams only in dollars misses something important. Scams are also making trust more expensive.
This report examines that growing cost: the attention Americans are spending figuring out what to trust, how the scam experience differs across all 50 states, and what protection should look like when staying safe increasingly competes for the same limited time and attention as everything else we do online.
McAfee’s research combines a nationally representative survey of 5,000 U.S. adults, with 100 respondents in every state, and McAfee Labs analysis of text-based scam activity across the U.S.
Together, the findings show how scams are affecting not only Americans’ wallets, but also their attention, trust and behavior online.
Scams are placing a growing burden on Americans’ attention. Nearly three-quarters (74%) say they feel the need to double-check most things online before trusting them, while 62% say figuring out what is real takes more mental energy than it did a year ago. (Survey)
That uncertainty is changing legitimate online behavior. Eighty-two percent say scam concerns have changed something they do online. Forty-four percent have avoided buying from an unfamiliar retailer, 37% have ignored a legitimate call, text or email, 34% have avoided a new app, website or service, 33% have avoided a legitimate link and 25% have abandoned an online purchase. (Survey)
Scams can make real opportunities harder to trust. Twenty-seven percent encountered a fake recruiter or job opportunity in the past year. At the same time, 18% say scam concerns have caused them to avoid responding to a job opportunity. (Survey)
Financial losses are widespread, and getting money back can be difficult. Nearly one-third of Americans (31%) report losing money to a scam in the past year. Among those who lost money, 53% recovered none. In Wyoming, Kansas, Louisiana, California and New Mexico, more than 70% of victims who lost money recovered nothing. (Survey)
Investment and cryptocurrency scams dominate text-based scam activity. McAfee Labs found them to be the leading scam-text category by volume in 47 of 50 states from May through July 2026. Maine, North Dakota and Michigan were the exceptions. In Maine and North Dakota, toll and traffic scams ranked first. Meanwhile, in North Dakota, loan and investment scams ranked first. (McAfee Labs)
The volume and intensity of scam texts varies considerably by state. Alabama averaged 5.14 scam texts per device, the highest in McAfee’s analysis. In North Dakota, scams represented 2.8% of analyzed text traffic, the highest concentration nationally. In Hawaii, devices receiving at least one scam text averaged 8.45 scam messages during the three-month analysis period. (McAfee Labs)
Some states experience especially high exposure or financial consequences. Ninety-five percent of Nevada respondents encountered at least one type of scam in the past year. In Ohio, 41% reported losing money to a scam. Thirty percent of New Jersey respondents say they encounter four or more scam attempts on a typical day. North Carolina stood out in the other direction: 42% of victims who lost money said they recovered all of it. (Survey)
Many scam texts are designed to begin a conversation rather than complete the scam immediately. Joining or clicking through to a WhatsApp group was the most common requested action in the scam texts McAfee analyzed, driven largely by investment and cryptocurrency schemes. The initial message may be only the first step in a longer attempt to build trust before asking for money. (McAfee Labs)
Displays the number of scams seen per unique device
Scams no longer occupy some separate, obviously suspicious corner of the internet. Increasingly, they imitate the ordinary business of being online.
In its analysis of U.S. text-based scams from May through July 2026, McAfee Labs identified 49 leading scam topics across 23 broader categories. They touched nearly every part of daily life: package deliveries and bank accounts, job offers and investments, shopping and subscriptions, health and utilities, relationships and family emergencies.
Example of one of the many types of delivery text scams consumers face
The full list spans Cloud Storage & Payment; Package & Delivery; Banking & Financial; Toll & Traffic Violation; Tax & IRS; Legal Threat & Law Enforcement; Government Impersonation; Tech Support & Security; Prize & Lottery; Romance & Relationship; Employment & Job Offer; Subscription & Service; Account Verification & Account Alerts; Investment & Cryptocurrency; Charity & Donation; Utility & Bill Payment; Health & Pharmacy; Family & Friend Emergency; Retail & Shopping; Loan & Debt Relief; Buying Property & Real Estate; Context-Free Links & Phone Numbers; and Other.
That breadth matters. The more scams resemble the normal messages people receive every day, the more ordinary life requires verification.
One category nevertheless dominated. Investment and cryptocurrency scams were the largest text-scam category by volume in 47 of 50 states. Only Maine, North Dakota and Michigan broke the pattern, with toll and traffic violation scams as well as loan and investments ranking first.
The prevalence of investment scams is important because many are not trying to steal money with a single text. They are trying to start a relationship.
The most common action requested in the scam texts analyzed by McAfee was clicking or joining a WhatsApp group, driven heavily by investment and cryptocurrency schemes. A message might promote an investing community or offer access to financial advice.
Example of a scam text attempting to move users to WhatsApp
Moving the recipient into a group or private conversation gives the scammer more time to establish credibility before money enters the picture. Plus, for many of us, social apps feel more personal and we more easily let our guard down when we move a conversation to these messaging platforms.
That helps explain why an unsolicited text that looks relatively harmless can still be the beginning of a much longer scam.
Other prominent scams rely on a different tactic: urgency. Fake account alerts can suggest that something needs immediate attention. Toll and traffic scams warn of an unpaid charge or violation. McAfee Labs also saw scammers impersonating T-Mobile with fake reward offers among the largest individual scam topics.
Example of scammers exploiting trusted brands like T-Mobile to dupe customers
The stories change, but the underlying objective is often the same. Scammers want people to act before they have time to question what they are seeing. And there is a lot to question.
McAfee’s analysis found meaningful differences in the amount of scam traffic reaching consumers around the country during the three month analysis period. Alabama recorded an average of 5.14 scam texts per device, the highest in the analysis. Georgia followed at 4.67, with Mississippi close behind at 4.64.
North Dakota stood out in a different way. There, scams represented 2.8% of all text traffic McAfee analyzed, the highest concentration in the country. Hawaii showed another pattern: among devices that received at least one scam text, the average was 8.45 scam messages during the three-month period. That was about 15% higher than Alabama, which ranked second at 7.35 scam texts per exposed device.
| Rank | State | Scams per device | State | Scams per device scammed |
| 1 | Alabama | 5.14 | Hawaii | 8.45 |
| 2 | Georgia | 4.67 | Alabama | 7.35 |
| 3 | Mississippi | 4.64 | Ohio | 7.29 |
| 4 | Nevada | 4.54 | Florida | 7.29 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 4.50 | North Dakota | 7.28 |
A third measure shows how concentrated scam traffic was within people’s overall text messages. North Dakota had the highest concentration in the country, with scams accounting for 2.8% of all text traffic McAfee analyzed.
These measures capture different dimensions of the same problem. The all-device average shows how many scam texts reached devices across a state overall. The exposed-device average shows how persistent scam activity was for devices that received at least one scam. And the share of total text traffic shows how prominent scam messages were within the broader messaging environment.
This shows each states top scam category by volume if Investments & Cryptocurrency scams are ignored. Notice these colors don’t necessarily match the colors from the previous graph.
For consumers, those distinctions may be invisible. What they experience is repetition: another message asking for attention and another decision about whether it deserves it.
AI raises the stakes further. It can make convincing scam content cheaper and faster to produce, while people are simultaneously encountering more AI-generated material in everyday online life. The result is an environment where the old advice to simply “look for something suspicious” becomes harder to apply reliably. Sometimes the suspicious thing looks perfectly ordinary.
That is why the next phase of consumer protection cannot depend on people becoming infinitely better at scrutinizing everything themselves.
McAfee’s consumer research shows what happens when that scam environment meets everyday life.
Most Americans are encountering scams regularly. Eighty-eight percent say they experienced at least one type of scam in the past year, and one in five say they typically encounter four or more scam attempts in a single day.
Yet frequency tells only part of the story. The more consequential finding may be what people are doing in response.
Eighty-two percent say scam concerns have changed their online behavior. Forty-four percent have avoided an unfamiliar retailer. Thirty-seven percent have ignored a legitimate call, text or email because they suspected a scam. Thirty-three percent have avoided clicking a legitimate message or link.
These are not examples of people falling for scams. They are examples of people trying not to.
Job scams make that tradeoff particularly tangible. Twenty-seven percent of Americans say they encountered a fake recruiter or job opportunity in the past year. Eighteen percent say concerns about scams have caused them to avoid responding to a job opportunity.
The financial consequences remain substantial when a scam does succeed. Nearly one-third of Americans (31%) report losing money to a scam in the past year. Among those victims, 53% recovered none of what they lost.
From our McAfee Labs Research: This shows approximate location of all the scams received
But a national average can obscure how differently people experience the problem.
Our full 50-state scam breakdown examines the data state by state, combining McAfee’s consumer survey with Labs telemetry to show where scam exposure is highest, where financial recovery is hardest, how concerns affect behavior, and which types of text scams McAfee is seeing across the country.
Across those differences, one finding remains remarkably consistent: Americans are adapting. They are checking more carefully and approaching unfamiliar interactions with greater caution, or even avoiding them altogether.
Those behaviors can help keep people safe. But that puts the mental load on back onto the everyday user. There is a limit to how much vigilance we should expect people to supply on their own.
The better question is how technology can take on more of that work for them. And that is the thinking behind McAfee’s new brand and product experience, beginning its rollout in the U.S. today.
McAfee’s new consumer experience is designed to make protection simpler to understand and easier to act on, while helping people navigate the moments where scams and other threats increasingly create uncertainty.
We’ll let you know if something seems suspicious and could put you at risk.
The experience is built to spot risks earlier, guide people clearly, and act when protection can be handled automatically. That means flagging suspicious messages, links, sites, exposed data, or unsafe connections; explaining what matters in plain language; and helping people take the right next step without requiring them to become security experts.
McAfee can alert you when your information appears in a data breach, help identify suspicious messages and links, protect your connection on risky Wi-Fi, monitor for exposed personal information, and help keep your devices and accounts safer.
Just as importantly, we’ve worked to make those protections understandable.
Instead of expecting people to know cybersecurity terminology or hunt through settings, the experience is designed to surface what matters and help people understand what to do next.
Because good protection shouldn’t create another job for you.
The refreshed McAfee experience makes it easier to see what needs your attention and how you’re protected.
That idea, making protection do more of the work, is built into the new McAfee experience we’re unveiling today.
We’ve brought protection for personal information, connections, and devices into one connected experience across PC, Mac, mobile, and tablet. Instead of asking people to piece together what’s protected or search for what needs attention, McAfee makes it easier to see both in one place.
The experience is also more personal. McAfee can alert you when your information or devices may be at risk and provide guided actions, that explain what needs your attention in plain language. The goal is not to give people more security information. It’s to help them understand what matters to them and what they can do about it.
And over time, the experience is designed to become more personal and relevant to each person, proactively identifying risks, alerting in the moment, and guiding when action is needed for the protections that matter most based on their digital life.
We’ve also made improvements to privacy tools like Online Account Cleanup, which now helps people prioritize higher-risk accounts, and Personal Data Cleanup, which makes it easier to see the personal information being found and removed on their behalf.
Taken together, these changes reflect where we believe consumer safety needs to go: less hunting through settings, less deciphering security alerts, and less relying on people to spot every threat themselves.
More protection that understands what matters, explains what needs attention, and works proactively in the background.
Here to give you peace of mind and lighten the mental load of life online.
The findings in this report suggest that the impact of scams extends beyond exposure and financial loss.
Every scam adds another small decision to an already crowded digital day: Is this message real? Is this link safe? Is this person who they say they are? As those decisions multiply, staying safe online becomes not just a security challenge, but a growing mental burden.
As people encounter more attempts to imitate legitimate messages, businesses and opportunities, the effort required to establish trust becomes a consequence in its own right.
That makes reducing the burden of verification an increasingly important part of consumer protection. People should not have to devote more of their limited attention to staying safe simply because scams are becoming harder to distinguish from everyday life online. That’s where McAfee comes in.
The post Your State’s Scam Reality: What New Research Reveals Across All 50 States appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The best ways to protect your child from identity theft include freezing their credit, limiting exposure of personal information, monitoring for suspicious activity, securing family devices, and teaching safe online habits. Because children often don’t discover identity theft for years, taking preventive action early can help protect their credit, finances, and future opportunities.
Child identity theft is one of the fastest-growing forms of fraud, and many families don’t discover it until years after the damage is done. But child identity theft has surged in recent years, with 38% of U.S. survey participants reporting that a child or family member’s child had been victimized in 2025, jumping from 23% the year prior.
This guide explains how child identity theft happens, what warning signs to watch for, and the eight most effective ways to protect your child’s future.
Child identity theft is a crime in which someone steals a minor’s personal information, most commonly the minor’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number (SSN) or equivalent national identifier, to commit fraud. The thief might open credit card accounts, take out loans, rent housing, file fraudulent tax returns, or claim government benefits, all in the child’s name. A 2021 Javelin Strategy study found that this crime affects one in every 50 children and costs U.S. families nearly $1 billion annually.
The crime is made uniquely dangerous by the silence. Because children typically do not start applying for credit until they are 16 to 18, a thief can have more than a decade of undetected activity. As a result, by the time the victim becomes an adult, they may face:
The crime is not confined to the United States, either. One documentary tells the story of Renata Furst Galvão, a native of Brazil, whose identity was stolen at age six and used to amass more than $400,000 in debt.
To protect your child effectively, it helps to understand exactly who is targeting them, how they are getting in, and why the threat is accelerating. Even the most security-conscious household can be exposed through no fault of its own. In reality, information is often exposed through organizations that collect and store children’s data.
Common sources include:
A December 2025 survey found that reports of ID theft rose from 43% in 2024 to 78% in 2025, a single-year spike that reflects how AI-powered tools have made it faster and cheaper for criminals to generate convincing phishing messages and fake identities at scale.
Synthetic identity fraud is particularly dangerous for children. It pairs a real Social Security number belonging to a minor unlikely to use it anytime soon with a fictitious name and address. The resulting fake identity can then build a credit history, take out loans, and disappear before anyone connects the dots.
Catching this crime early makes the recovery process far less painful. Knowing what to look for means you will not dismiss the very clues that trigger a fast response.
The most common early indicators arrive in your mailbox or by phone, including:
Any business mail addressed to a young child should trigger an immediate investigation.
Many families first discover the theft during pivotal life moments. Examples include:
Children typically should not have a credit history, so potential warning signs of identity theft include:
If your child has a credit record before they are old enough to use credit, it may indicate identity theft.
You can follow these steps while seeking guidance from financial educators, credit authorities, and consumer protection experts. Start small by choosing two or three today, then build from there.
A credit freeze is one of the most effective ways to protect your child from identity theft. If your child is under 16, request a free credit freeze from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This prevents anyone from opening new financial accounts in your child’s name without your authorization. Once in place, the freeze remains active until you ask the credit bureau to temporarily lift or remove it.
Because minors typically don’t have established credit files, the process for placing a freeze differs from that for adults. Each of the three major credit bureaus provides specific instructions for parents and guardians. Follow the guidance from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to place a freeze on your child’s credit file.
In addition to a credit freeze, it’s smart to watch for signs that someone is using your child’s identity. Ensure that you:
In an honest, age-appropriate conversation, explain to them that personal information is the master key to their financial future and should not be shared with online strangers. Role-playing helps: ask your child what they would do if someone they met in a game asked for their full name and home address. Empowered kids are less likely to overshare and more likely to alert you when something feels off.
Draw a very thick line around your child’s details. Reiterate that sharing them should be limited only when truly necessary, such as school enrollment or medical forms, and only with verified institutions. Ask why it is needed, how it will be stored, and if an alternative identifier is acceptable. Keep important documents in a locked safe and shred papers with your child’s information before disposal.
Talk with your kids about safe internet habits. Instruct them to stay skeptical of quizzes, free offers or apps, and unbelievable promos that request personal details. Set their social media accounts to private and limit follower or friend lists to people they know in real life. Use strong, unique passwords for family accounts and enable multifactor authentication on email, school portals, and social media apps used by older children.
Regularly check your household mail for notices addressed to your child. If you spot anything suspicious, contact the company directly using the contact details on its official website. Do not call the number printed on the suspicious document, as it could redirect you to the thief who sent it. Consider using an identity monitoring service that scans for your child’s data in data breaches or on the dark web and alerts you when their information surfaces.
Many identity theft incidents start with a compromised family device. To reduce this risk, keep operating systems, browsers, and apps fully updated. Secure your home Wi-Fi with a strong password and WPA3 encryption to prevent data interception. Comprehensive security software, such as McAfee+ Family Plans, can help you block malware, keyloggers, and phishing sites that harvest personal data from every device in your home, including the tablets and phones your children use most.
If you discover or suspect your child’s identity has been stolen, immediately contact the company where the fraudulent account was opened, close the account, and request written confirmation that your child bears no liability. Report the theft to IdentityTheft.gov, follow the personalized recovery plan, and file a police report to create an official record that will help resolve disputes with creditors.
Next, contact each credit bureau to cancel fraudulent accounts, inquiries, and collection notices linked to your child’s SSN. Keep detailed records of every call, letter, and case number throughout the process. Reporting the incident to the authorities helps your family recover and supports broader enforcement efforts that protect other families.
Child identity theft is a fast-growing, serious threat worldwide, but it is also one of the more preventable forms of fraud when families take proactive steps early. Start this week by spending 10 minutes to safely lock away your child’s physical documents, then call the major credit bureaus to request a freeze on your child’s credit. Build toward the full eight-step plan over the next month to close every door that leads to potential harm.
Beyond the 8-step sprint, add a recurring data safety day to your family calendar each year to recheck credit freezes and fraud alerts, review your children’s online accounts and platform settings, update devices and passwords, and discuss emerging threats. A family that combines strong protective habits with smart security tools is a much harder target for any kind of cybercrime.
The post 8 Steps to Protect Your Child From Identity Theft appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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