U.S. Financial Institutions Report 130% Surge in Impersonation Scam Attempts
U.S. financial institutions recorded a sharp increase in impersonation scam activity over the past year, according to new data released by BioCatch on August 12, 2026.
The findings are based on proprietary data from 292 U.S. financial institutions serving more than 280 million users. BioCatch said attempted impersonation scams more than doubled between 2025 and 2026, rising by 130%.
Impersonation scams typically involve criminals posing as trusted organisations, public figures, relatives or law-enforcement representatives to persuade victims to transfer money or disclose sensitive information.
Investment scams remain the costliest
While impersonation scams were the most frequently reported scam category, investment scams generated the largest attempted losses among BioCatch’s U.S. banking customers. The company recorded $46 million in attempted investment fraud losses, followed by $28 million from purchase scams and $22 million from law-enforcement and legal impersonation scams.
The data also points to broader changes in digital fraud behaviour. Phishing attempts increased 50% year on year, while 70% of reported account-takeover sessions occurred after 5 p.m. Digital banking sessions involving remote-access tools rose 45% over the same period.
BioCatch also found that 83.9% of fraud attempts between June 2025 and May 2026 originated from devices located in the United States. The company linked this pattern partly to social-engineering schemes in which victims themselves are manipulated into authorising transactions, meaning the fraudster does not necessarily need to access the account directly from abroad.
The findings underline the increasing overlap between scam prevention, account-takeover controls and financial-crime monitoring. For banks, behavioural signals and payment context are becoming increasingly important alongside traditional authentication and transaction-monitoring controls.
