2024 Global Fraud and Scams Trends Report: AI-Powered Scams, Malware-as-a-Service, and Faster Payment Threats

In Outseer’s latest Global Fraud and Scams Trends report, based on data collected and analyzed from Outseer’s FraudAction 24/7 Anti-Fraud Command Center, Outseer offers a comprehensive analysis of fraud attacks over the past year. This analysis sheds light on the ever-evolving cyber fraud landscape that affects organizations of all sizes.

Three primary fraud threats have surfaced:

• AI-Powered Scams
• Malware-as-a-Service
• The Threat of Faster Payments

The report highlights the skyrocketing popularity and widespread availability of AI in the past year that has fueled an alarming surge in scams. Additionally, the increase in consumer accessibility to instant payments has led to a resurgence in instant payment scams and a growing reliance on money mules. These can be attributed to the fact that fraudsters are constantly seeking ways to increase the efficiency of their scams and expedite the cash-out process by jumping on emerging technologies and situations that influence consumer behavior.

These trends have highlighted the following insights:

• The rise of Banking Trojans emerged as a significant cybersecurity threat, surging 120% increase in the total volume of attacks year-over-year.
• Malware-as-a-service and information-stealing malware was a major theme through 2023, while the volume of observed fraud grew 108%, malware attacks grew by a staggering 4,000%.
• Outseer has seen a significant uptick in unauthorized push payments, mule accounts, and account takeovers in markets where faster payment adoption is high. FIs surveyed saw a spike in fraud attacks using real-time rail: 57% said mule activity was up, 71% said consumer ATO had increased, and 62% said APP fraud had increased.
• Generative AI is predicted to fuel scams and corresponding losses after 2023 saw two large-scale generative AI.

As financial crime escalates each year, it is crucial to remain knowledgeable of the latest trends and adapt strategies to combat constantly evolving fraud tactics.

Download the report to gain the full analysis.