Scams overtake $1 trillion as AI supercharges global fraud networks: BioCatch

Scams have overtaken all other forms of fraud to become the most financially devastating threat to consumers and financial institutions worldwide, according to a new report from behavioral biometrics firm BioCatch.

BioCatch’s 2025 Global Scams Report reveals that authorized push payment (APP) fraud now costs over $1 trillion annually, driven by the proliferation of real-time payments and the industrialization of scam operations. Previously, the biometrics company has reported on digital banking fraud and the rise of bots and money mules.

“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,” says BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Tom Peacock.

The report highlights a 65 percent year-on-year increase in scam reports, with purchase scams remaining the most common. However, voice phishing (vishing) and SMS phishing (smishing) have seen explosive growth: Vishing reports doubled, while smishing surged tenfold. Romance scams rose 63 percent, and investment scams climbed 42 percent.

“GenAI has supercharged scamming (which is now very definitely an industry), lowering the barrier to entry and helping scammers scale and improve their attacks all over the world,” the report warns.

In North America, scam reports have quadrupled since 2023, with vishing up 15-fold. Europe saw scam volumes nearly double, with job scams quadrupling and romance scams doubling. Latin America experienced a sixfold increase in scam activity, though many cases remain unclassified due to reporting gaps. Asia-Pacific saw a 35 percent rise overall, with impersonation scams dominating in Southeast Asia, the report says, while Australia reported a decline in losses thanks to improved controls.

The report draws attention to the emergence of scam compounds in Cambodia, particularly in Sihanoukville, where trafficked workers are forced to operate fraud schemes under threat of violence. These compounds, often run by organized crime, resemble prisons and are spreading to other regions including Africa and South America.

“Entire cities are now dedicated to scams, operating openly, protected, and expanding,” says Erin West, founder of nonprofit Operation Shamrock, and who travelled 1,000 miles across Cambodia investigating its fraud compounds. “They’re boomtowns, but instead of producing goods, their industry is fraud.”

BioCatch urges financial institutions to adopt behavioral and device intelligence to detect scams in real time. It has a behavior-based scam-fighting solution in Scams360, launched in July, which has the ability to detect and block the majority of APP fraud in real time. Its new report includes the harrowing case study involving a cancer patient whose daughter was manipulated into draining her mother’s bank account.

In addition, BioCatch has a webinar on “Five Forces Disrupting Global Fraud Prevention by 2030.” The on-demand webinar features Trace Fooshee and David Barnhardt, who are both strategic advisors, fraud and AML practice, at Datos Insights. They speak on the AI arms race, and how agile fraudsters will outwit banks unless adaptation accelerates. How regulatory frameworks and compliance pressures are transforming fraud strategy are detailed along with the forward view on technology investments in identity.

BioCatch’s “2025 Global Scams: Using behavioral and device intelligence to shine a light on social engineering scams” report can be viewed here.

Article Topics

AML  |  behavioral biometrics  |  BioCatch  |  biometrics  |  device fingerprinting  |  digital identity  |  financial crime  |  financial services  |  fraud prevention  |  KYC