Where you live changes your odds of getting scam money back. Mostly because of who holds the money.

23 states, ranked by how often a scam complaint ended with money

Each bar is the share of a state’s closed scam complaints that ended with monetary relief. The thin navy line is what the state would have scored if every company had paid out at its own national rate on that state’s actual mix of complaints. Only states with at least 100 closed complaints are ranked; every state is listed further down.

The same complaint, sent to different companies, ends differently

The companies with at least 100 closed scam complaints in this period sit far apart. 3 closed none with money: Block (Cash App) (2,210 closed), Early Warning Services, which operates the Zelle network (232), and Western Union (124). At the other end, PayPal closed 27.1% with money and Bank of America 18.1%. Each company picks its own closing label: Block closed all 2,210 of its scam complaints here as “Closed with explanation”, the label it uses for almost every complaint it receives. Some refunds may be recorded under “explanation”, and the public record cannot show that, so a zero means none recorded as monetary relief.

Read every line as what happened to people who escalated to a federal regulator, not as a company’s refund rate. Anyone refunded at first contact never appears here. And a zero can mean a company that holds no account, like a network operator, is structurally unable to pay rather than unwilling; this data cannot tell those apart.

We tested the obvious explanation. Half of it was wrong.

The tempting story is that states with lots of Cash App complaints simply score lower. The correlation is real (r = -0.75 across the 23 states), but it is partly arithmetic: a company that closes every complaint without money pulls any state’s average down. So we removed Cash App complaints and ranked the states again.

Every state moves up, but the gap between them barely shrinks. It is not just Cash App. What does predict a state’s rate is its whole mix of companies. Give every company its own national payout rate, apply it to each state’s actual complaints, and the prediction tracks reality closely (r = 0.82); the mix accounts for roughly 65% of the differences between states. The rest is unexplained here, and we are not going to guess at it.

North Carolina: 5.3%, and almost exactly what its mix predicts

18 of North Carolina’s 342 closed scam complaints ended with money, 5.3%, tied with Missouri for second lowest of the 23 ranked states. 41.5% of the state’s scam complaints named Block, the company behind Cash App, one of the highest shares in the country. The company-mix prediction for North Carolina is 5.2%. In other words, the state’s low rate is what you would expect from who its residents were dealing with, not from anything about North Carolina itself.

For context, and without drawing a connection the data cannot support: on 8 July 2026 North Carolina’s attorney general announced a settlement with Block resolving allegations that it misrepresented Cash App’s safety (NC Department of Justice). The complaints counted here run from January to September 2026.

What these numbers mean for you

1. Call your bank or the app the same day. The first contact is where most refunds happen, and none of those appear in this data.
2. Escalate to the institution that holds your money, not the network your payment travelled on. Complaints aimed at the Zelle network operator produced no relief at all, in this data and in our Complaint Outcome Index.
3. How you paid matters more than where you live. Card payments carry chargeback rights that a transfer you authorised yourself usually does not; our refund checker walks through your options by payment type.
4. A federal complaint is free at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. It is a second step, after the company has had its chance.
5. Never pay anyone to recover the money. Fee-first recovery offers are the second scam that follows the first.

Every state, in one line each

Alabama

9 of 131 closed scam complaints ended with money (6.9%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 40.4%; the company-mix prediction is 5.2%.

Alaska

19 scam complaints, 19 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Arizona

14 of 159 closed scam complaints ended with money (8.8%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 21.1%; the company-mix prediction is 7.0%.

Arkansas

82 scam complaints, 78 closed, 3 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Armed Forces Americas

1 scam complaint, 1 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Armed Forces Europe

3 scam complaints, 3 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Armed Forces Pacific

2 scam complaints, 2 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

California

96 of 1118 closed scam complaints ended with money (8.6%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 15.2%; the company-mix prediction is 8.2%.

Colorado

14 of 142 closed scam complaints ended with money (9.9%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 18.6%; the company-mix prediction is 8.2%.

Connecticut

92 scam complaints, 89 closed, 14 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Delaware

29 scam complaints, 29 closed, 3 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

District of Columbia

28 scam complaints, 27 closed, 3 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Florida

65 of 844 closed scam complaints ended with money (7.7%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 20.1%; the company-mix prediction is 8.1%.

Georgia

21 of 382 closed scam complaints ended with money (5.5%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 38.2%; the company-mix prediction is 5.7%.

Guam

1 scam complaint, 1 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Hawaii

28 scam complaints, 27 closed, 3 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Idaho

45 scam complaints, 42 closed, 1 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Illinois

19 of 305 closed scam complaints ended with money (6.2%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 22.0%; the company-mix prediction is 7.1%.

Indiana

5 of 121 closed scam complaints ended with money (4.1%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 35.4%; the company-mix prediction is 6.4%.

Iowa

38 scam complaints, 37 closed, 4 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Kansas

62 scam complaints, 60 closed, 2 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Kentucky

67 scam complaints, 64 closed, 5 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Louisiana

100 scam complaints, 99 closed, 8 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Maine

17 scam complaints, 15 closed, 1 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Maryland

15 of 215 closed scam complaints ended with money (7.0%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 34.5%; the company-mix prediction is 7.8%.

Massachusetts

20 of 151 closed scam complaints ended with money (13.2%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 14.6%; the company-mix prediction is 11.2%.

Michigan

12 of 178 closed scam complaints ended with money (6.7%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 28.3%; the company-mix prediction is 6.6%.

Minnesota

101 scam complaints, 96 closed, 7 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Mississippi

61 scam complaints, 59 closed, 1 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Missouri

8 of 152 closed scam complaints ended with money (5.3%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 34.6%; the company-mix prediction is 7.0%.

Montana

18 scam complaints, 18 closed, 2 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Nebraska

30 scam complaints, 29 closed, 3 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Nevada

6 of 103 closed scam complaints ended with money (5.8%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 28.7%; the company-mix prediction is 6.0%.

New Hampshire

15 scam complaints, 14 closed, 4 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

New Jersey

32 of 252 closed scam complaints ended with money (12.7%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 12.5%; the company-mix prediction is 9.9%.

New Mexico

29 scam complaints, 28 closed, 2 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

New York

47 of 602 closed scam complaints ended with money (7.8%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 16.6%; the company-mix prediction is 7.7%.

North Carolina

18 of 342 closed scam complaints ended with money (5.3%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 41.5%; the company-mix prediction is 5.2%.

North Dakota

7 scam complaints, 7 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Ohio

17 of 200 closed scam complaints ended with money (8.5%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 30.4%; the company-mix prediction is 6.1%.

Oklahoma

81 scam complaints, 78 closed, 6 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Oregon

83 scam complaints, 80 closed, 9 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Pennsylvania

18 of 288 closed scam complaints ended with money (6.2%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 25.1%; the company-mix prediction is 7.7%.

Puerto Rico

16 scam complaints, 16 closed, 4 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Rhode Island

21 scam complaints, 20 closed, 2 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

South Carolina

8 of 141 closed scam complaints ended with money (5.7%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 34.9%; the company-mix prediction is 5.8%.

South Dakota

5 scam complaints, 5 closed, 2 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Tennessee

12 of 170 closed scam complaints ended with money (7.1%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 33.5%; the company-mix prediction is 7.1%.

Texas

54 of 791 closed scam complaints ended with money (6.8%), below the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 28.9%; the company-mix prediction is 6.9%.

U.S. Virgin Islands

1 scam complaint, 1 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Utah

53 scam complaints, 52 closed, 3 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Vermont

8 scam complaints, 7 closed, 1 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Virginia

19 of 231 closed scam complaints ended with money (8.2%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 29.0%; the company-mix prediction is 6.3%.

Washington

20 of 184 closed scam complaints ended with money (10.9%), above the 7.6% national figure. Cash App was named in 20.9%; the company-mix prediction is 10.1%.

West Virginia

28 scam complaints, 27 closed, 0 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Wisconsin

82 scam complaints, 80 closed, 7 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

Wyoming

12 scam complaints, 12 closed, 1 with money. Too few to rank reliably.

What this data can and cannot tell you

• The label is the consumer’s. “Fraud or scam” is the issue the person chose when filing; the CFPB does not assign or verify it.
• These are escalated cases. People complain to a federal regulator after the company has had its chance, so first-contact refunds are invisible here.
• The outcome is coded by the company in its response to the complaint, and the CFPB publishes it as reported.
• Volume follows customers. A company with more users gets more complaints; counts are not a measure of how often fraud happens.
• Some complaints are templated. Waves of near-identical payment-app complaints have been reported in earlier years, so treat any single company’s count with care.
• Small states are noisy, which is why only states with at least 100 closed complaints are ranked.

Since 14 August 2026 the CFPB no longer publishes complaint narratives. The Bureau said they were one-sided and could mislead; consumer advocates and reporters, including ProPublica, have described the change as a loss for accountability. The structured fields used here are still published, which is why this count can be repeated by anyone.

We offered Block, Early Warning Services and Western Union the chance to comment on these figures on 19 October 2026. Early Warning replied the same day with a statement attributed to a Zelle spokesperson, which did not dispute any figure. “We don’t hold a user’s money or manage their bank or credit union accounts,” the spokesperson said, adding that consumers who suspect fraud or a scam “should immediately contact their financial institution, as they are required by law to investigate all fraud claims.” We then asked how a complaint that names Early Warning is handled, and whether Zelle’s network rules require banks to reimburse any kind of scam. Early Warning referred us to Zelle’s published Fast Facts page and fact sheets. Those say participating banks must fully reimburse confirmed fraud and must reimburse “certain qualifying imposter scams where the customer authorized the transaction,” without saying which scams qualify, and they do not say how a complaint naming Early Warning is recorded. Zelle’s fact sheet also tells consumers that once they approve a payment, the money “is often unrecoverable.” Block replied before the deadline but asked that its comments not be quoted. Western Union had not replied by the 21 October deadline.