A new report from BioCatch points to the explosive and exponential growth of scams all around the world. The research pulls data from financial institutions serving nearly 350 million consumers on five different continents and finds scam attempts increased by 65% in the last year. That includes a 100% spike in voice phishing (vishing) scam attempts, a 63% uptick in attempted romance scams, and a 42% increase in attempted investment scams. SMS text-based phishing attacks also rose by a factor of 10.
“While these numbers are staggering, they probably won’t surprise anyone,” BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Tom Peacock said. “Fraud and anti-money laundering team leaders at the world’s largest banks fight through this scamming onslaught every single day, while the rest of us have undoubtedly noticed a marked surge in scammy text messages, emails, phone calls, and social posts.”
BioCatch’s research finds purchase scams remain the most prevalent scam type in the world, with purchase scam attempts increasing by 14% in the last year.
The Global Anti-Scam Alliance estimates consumers lose $1.03 trillion (and growing) to scams annually. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has attributed the bulk of the scams now plaguing consumers and their financial institutions to organised criminal operations.
A lone positive from the report: BioCatch customers reported a 15% decrease in impersonation scams — attributed, in part, to the adoption of behavioural solutions.
Click here to view the complete report.
