Home / Privacy statistics

Data privacy and scam statistics for Europe (2026)

How much of your personal data is out there, who trades it, and what it costs when scammers use it. This page collects our own research, the 2026 HenryProtect EU Data Broker Index, plus the most cited official figures for the Netherlands and the EU. Every number links to its source and date.

Last updated 10 November 2026. We update this page when new data comes out.

Key numbers

How many data brokers hold data on people in Europe?

What kind of data brokers are they?

What personal data do data brokers sell?

How many people in the Netherlands fall victim to online crime?

How much money do Dutch people lose to fraud?

How many data breaches are reported in the Netherlands?

How big are GDPR fines?

Do people in Europe protect their personal data online?

Which security steps stop most account attacks?

Coming in December 2026: the HenryProtect Broker Response Tracker

Under the GDPR, companies must answer a removal request within one month. HenryProtect sends these requests every day and records what happens: who answers, who deletes, who asks for more ID and who ignores the law. We'll publish the first results here after the first one-month deadlines pass in December 2026.

We do this for you. You don't have to do anything.

  • Autopilot sends the request to every company we find, plus dozens of other data brokers that likely hold your data.
  • We send the reminders, handle the replies and keep track of the one-month deadline.
  • We rescan you every week. If your data comes back, we send a new request.
  • All you do is enter your name, confirm your email and give us permission. Free during the beta.

How we counted

The the 2026 HenryProtect EU Data Broker Index combines 27 brokers we track by hand (people search, sales databases, ad data and credit bureaus that web search can't see) with 373 companies from the open datenanfragen.de database (CC0), filtered to advertising, address and credit data companies, with duplicates removed. "Processes data on people in the Netherlands" means the company has no country limit or names the Netherlands. US-registered means "Inc." or "LLC" in the legal name, so it's a lower bound. The full list is in our data broker index.

How to cite this page

HenryProtect, "Data privacy and scam statistics for Europe (2026)", https://www.henryprotect.com/privacy-statistics/, updated 10 November 2026. You're welcome to use any number here; please name the original source and link to this page.

Questions

How many data brokers are there in Europe?

There's no official register. The 2026 HenryProtect EU Data Broker Index lists 394 companies that trade or score personal data on people in Europe, and 210 of them cover people in the Netherlands.

How many Dutch people are scammed online?

In 2024, 9.4% of Dutch people aged 15 and over fell victim to online fraud or scams, according to CBS. That's about 1.4 million people.

How much were GDPR fines in 2025?

About €1.2 billion across Europe, according to DLA Piper's January 2026 survey, and about €7.1 billion since May 2018.

Sources