1 in 4 UK adults say they have lost money to a scam advert - the equivalent of 13.5 million people

Scam adverts have moved from an occasional nuisance to an everyday risk, and AI is making them harder than ever to spot

A new report by Public First, commissioned by Revolut, reveals how AI-enabled scam adverts are reshaping advertising, consumer behaviour and trust in the digital economy. 

The research finds that scams are now a routine digital risk, with AI making them more common and harder to spot. This is changing how people shop, damaging trust in the digital economy, and driving clear public demand for stronger protection.

To test this, we showed people a mix of real Revolut adverts and fake ones built using off-the-shelf AI tools. On average, people correctly identified only fine in eight adverts they were shown, and more than half wrongly flagged at least one genuine advert as a scam.

Most tellingly, the share of people who felt they could spot a scam advert almost halved after taking part.

Key findings:

• 51% of UK adults say that they see adverts online that they suspect to be scams very often or fairly often.
• 1 in 4 UK adults say they have lost money after clicking on an advert that turned out to be a scam. That is equivalent to around 13.5 million people
• 72% of UK adults say that AI makes scam adverts harder to identify and 80% of UK adults think that compared with a year ago, the number of online scam adverts using AI-generated images, videos, voices or deepfakes has increased.
• 68% say they have abandoned an online purchase originating from an advert because they were worried it might be a scam. 35% have cut their online spending over the past year, because of scam adverts.
• 78% of UK adults say that scam adverts make them less trusting of unfamiliar brands.
• 81% say there is not enough protection for consumers from online scams, and 86% say consumers remain vulnerable to scams under the current system.

The report argues that rebuilding trust will require coordinated action across the ecosystem. Done right, this would protect consumers, strengthen markets for businesses, and support innovation in an online environment people can trust.

Polling Tables

Public First conducted an anonymous, online survey of 2,008 adults in the UK from the 29th May to 1st Jun 2026.

Survey results are weighted using iterative proportional fitting, or ‘raking’. Results are weighted by interlocking age & gender, region and social grade to nationally representative proportions. Public First is a member of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abides by its rules. For more information, please contact the Public First Polling Team: [email protected].

Download the full report here and download the polling tables here