Truecaller Survey Reveals 80% of Americans Ignore Important Calls Due to Scam Fears

A new survey from Truecaller, the global platform for trusted communication, reveals that AI-powered scams have reached a critical tipping point, causing widespread avoidance of phone calls and texts. According to the 2026 Phone Fraud & AI Threat Survey, 82% of Americans say they have ignored important calls or texts out of fear it was a scam, a sharp increase from 59% in 2024. This avoidance has real consequences, especially for the 33% of respondents who rely on calls and texts for work.

The survey, conducted among 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. AI is a key driver of this anxiety: 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, with one in four respondents falling victim to a scam that cost them money, and 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.

“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.” The survey highlights a lack of preparedness: half of respondents would not know the exact steps to protect their identity or recover lost funds if targeted today. Identity theft has surpassed direct financial loss as the top concern for the coming year.

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 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.

“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 that consumers download a trusted caller ID application, never share sensitive information over the phone, avoid clicking unknown links in text messages, register with the Do Not Call list, report fraudulent calls, and verify caller identity before responding. For more information, visit www.truecaller.com. Additional survey findings are available from Truecaller Insights.