Op-Ed: Scams are attacking from all angles

Their steady evolution has plagued both businesses and individuals as further global digitalisation expanded their attacking surface, and enticing calls to action increased the appeal of scams to wider audiences. Banks especially fall at the centre of many scams, either as the impersonated or the avenue for payment transfer.

Moving forward, it is the responsibility of organisations, governments, and individuals to work together to remain vigilant towards scams.

A reflection of scamming’s impact on 2022

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently released its Targeting Scams Report 2022, which outlines the damages caused by scams in 2022. Concerningly, over $3 billion in combined losses was reported to Scamwatch, ReportCyber, and other government agencies in 2022, an 80 per cent increase from losses in 2021. However, despite this sharp increase, the number of scams reported has reduced by 16 per cent (268,622 in 2021 to 239,237 last year).

The attacking landscape has shifted from widespread “spray and pray” tactics to much more targeted attacks.

An increase in losses can be attributed to scams becoming harder to spot and scams tailored towards new demographics. Scammers are now attacking all age groups from all angles, with age groups ranging from 25–34 to 65-plus all reporting at least $57 million in losses.

Furthermore, scammers are leveraging emerging technology and can now impersonate phone numbers, email addresses, and websites of legitimate organisations. Text messages can appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages, and fake ads, social media profiles, and reviews are easily created. ACCC found text messages to be the most reported method of contact, with 79,835 reports (33 per cent) totalling $28 million in losses. However, scams via phone reported the highest losses of $141 million, with 63,821 reports (29 per cent).

By leveraging interesting calls to action and plots, these scams via phone, email, and text have become much more appealing to the intended victim.

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The dark side of crypto and AI

Similar to businesses and organisations, scammers and scam groups are constantly looking to innovate, often trend-hopping and incorporating hot topics into their scamming tactics.

In 2022, fraudsters used crypto to scam many Australians. The ACCC found that although bank transfers remain the most reported payment method, with 13,098 reports totalling $210.4 million, cryptocurrency was rapidly on the rise, as 3,910 people reported it as its payment method, a 162.4 per cent increase from 2021, totalling $221.3 million in losses. When we see that investment scams remain by far the most prolific type of scam reported, with $377 million in recorded losses (the next highest being romance scams at $40 million), it’s evident Australians were tricked into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrencies and sending money to set up websites in hopes to ride the wave of crypto success.

More recently, we have seen the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) being utilised by scammers. Social engineering relies on scammers deceiving humans with an authentic and realistic experience and calls to action. With the use of AI, scammers have added layers of seemingly credible evidence that they are legitimate. For example, the use of AI voice generation and impersonation is a growing concern, as scammers are able to mimic voices from audio clips that sound authentic.

Scam prevention is a shared responsibility

For organisations, governments, and individuals moving forward, everyone has a role to play in fighting scams. A combination of awareness, the right technology, and investment will create a formidable defence against scammers, especially as they look to leverage emerging and existing trends.

What specifically can be done?

Organisations

Organisations should look to leverage key technologies that detect scams. For banks, which are used as a primary payment avenue, implementing solutions such as behavioural biometric technology can ensure their customers remain protected against scams by blocking scammers impersonating accounts, or by intercepting suspicious transactions when notified that an individual is behaving uncharacteristically.

Although banks do not have control over stopping individuals from investing in crypto scams, if they use behavioural biometric technology to detect irregular cash movement, they can contact the customer and stop the scam before it occurs.

Government

The government will continue to play a role in addressing the scam epidemic Australia currently faces, by implementing new laws and investments to reduce scams. Recently announced in Australia’s federal budget, the government has committed $86.5 million to create a National Anti-Scam Centre to help the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) fight scam websites. Furthermore, it will establish the country’s first SMS Sender ID Registry, which is aimed at preventing scammers from impersonating established brands.

Individuals

Despite support from both the government and banks, individuals have a role to play in reducing the effectiveness of scams. It is important that Australians stay vigilant and spread awareness of current scams that are taking place, especially ones that are taking advantage of popular trends like crypto. Individuals should warn family members and friends and report scams to Scamwatch and similar agencies.

Ultimately, the only way to stop scams is for banks, governments, and individuals to work together.

Richard Booth is the head of APAC market at BioCatch.

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.