Senate Report Links Data Brokers to $20 billion Consumer Losses

Senator Maggie Hassan’s latest report shows how the activities of data brokers fuel identity‑theft scams, driving consumer losses into the billions ¹. The Joint Economic Committee Minority report quantified those losses at $20.9 billion, a figure derived from four major data‑breach incidents ¹.

Data brokers collect and sell personal information gathered from online behavior tracking—such as cookies—and offline purchases and subscriptions ¹. This aggregated profile is then used for marketing or directly by scammers who craft highly personalized spear‑phishing emails that appear legitimate ¹. For instance, the 2017 Equifax breach exposed personally identifiable information on more than 143 million Americans, which fraudsters later leveraged to target victims with scams costing an estimated $658 million according to FTC estimates at the time ².

The current estimate should be interpreted cautiously because it relies heavily upon extrapolation based only on those four breaches rather than comprehensive fraud reporting across all sectors where consumers are vulnerable via social engineering tactics ¹. Moreover, average remediation costs for identity theft hover around $350 per victim, adding further financial strain ¹.

Most consumers have little control over what personal info ends up in these broker databases; opt‑out mechanisms are often buried within lengthy terms of service agreements ¹. This lack of transparency magnifies privacy risks and underscores why stronger consumer controls and regulatory oversight are urgently needed.

The Senate report’s findings highlight how the data‑broker ecosystem creates fertile ground for sophisticated cybercrime. The scale of losses—$20.9 billion—demonstrates the urgent need for reforms that protect individuals’ privacy while curbing misuse of their data ¹.