Older and Younger Americans Split Sharply on Who Should Cover Scam Losses, Outseer Research Finds

New research from fraud-prevention specialist Outseer reveals a generational divide in how Americans think about fraud liability.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, October 27, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — More than four in ten American survey respondents aged 65 and over (42.9%) believe a customer manipulated into sending a bank transfer to a fraudster should bear the loss themselves, compared with one in four (25.6%) of those aged 18–24, according to new consumer research from Outseer, a leader in All-Cause Fraud Prevention™.

From age 25, the share rises with every age group: 22.7%, 23.5%, 27.8%, 32.5%, then 42.9%. Younger Americans lean the other way: 55.4% of 18–24s say the sending bank, the receiving bank or both should cover the cost, compared with 35.9% of over-65s.

The trend appears distinctly American. In the UK and India, also covered by the seven-market, 7,029-person study, the share blaming the customer shows no clear age pattern, ranging from 18.9% to 33.3% in the UK and from 22.0% to 32.7% in India.

“Our research highlights a clear generational difference in how Americans think about responsibility for scam losses,” said Chris Willis, Chief Marketing Officer, Outseer. “As the US debate around scam reimbursement develops, understanding these differing expectations will be important , both for policy discussions and for how banks explain their approach to protecting customers.”

The finding comes against a backdrop of high card fraud exposure: 57.9% of US consumers have personally experienced card-details fraud or seen it affect someone close to them, the highest of the seven markets. Fraud protection ranks among the top three reasons for choosing a bank for 56.4% of US respondents, ahead of low fees, rewards or interest rates. Separately, 39.2% say a fraud or scam experience reduced their trust in the provider involved, and 60.0% have abandoned an online checkout at least once because a security process felt too slow or confusing.

The gap matters for the US debate on scam reimbursement, where there is far less regulatory clarity than under the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator regime, which splits the cost of in-scope authorized push-payment scam claims 50:50 between sending and receiving banks. Any future US framework is likely to be received differently by age: older Americans in this survey lean toward individual responsibility, younger Americans toward shared institutional accountability.

On messaging, 33.9% of US respondents chose “we stop fraud before it reaches you” as the bank message that appeals to them most, well ahead of alternatives built around monitoring or technology.

“Consumers are telling banks that prevention matters,” said Outseer’s Willis. “When a customer is manipulated into authorizing a payment, the transaction may look legitimate even though the outcome is fraud. Identifying the signals of scam activity and intervening before money is lost is critical to protecting customers.”

The findings are drawn from a wider Outseer study of 7,029 consumers across the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, India, Brazil and Singapore, with 1,007 US respondents. Participants were asked about their concern and experience across 14 fraud and scam types, their attitudes to authentication and liability, and how they would respond if their bank failed to protect them — broken out by age and market throughout.

Outseer’s full white paper on the seven-market study is available at https://www.outseer.com/reports/trust-on-the-line-fraud-protection-report

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About Outseer
Outseer is a leader in All-Cause Fraud Prevention™, providing AI-powered fraud detection and prevention for banks, card issuers and payment providers. It helps financial institutions protect the full digital customer journey, from login and account activity to payments and 3-D Secure transactions. Its fraud prevention platform combines real-time risk intelligence, powered by the Outseer Risk Engine, with behavioral biometrics, device, transaction and contextual signals, and intelligence from the Outseer Global Data Network. It helps organizations detect scams and mule activity, and orchestrate the right authentication responses, including FIDO and passkeys, when additional assurance is needed.

Trusted by thousands of clients in more than 50 countries, including hundreds of the world’s largest financial institutions, Outseer safeguards more than 450 million accounts, 100 billion transactions and $5 trillion annually. Outseer helps banks, card issuers and payment providers stop fraud and scams, reduce unnecessary friction for genuine customers, and make smarter risk decisions across digital banking and card payments. Learn more at outseer.com.

Media Contact
Sarah Rutherford
sarah.rutherford@outseer.com
+44 7796 268174

Sarah Rutherford
Outseer

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