The fact is we’ve arrived at a new port of call in the fraud crisis: We’re now deep into the Scammer Era. A recent study estimates scams now account for $1 trillions dollars a year in global losses. Yes, that’s “trillion” with a “T” in U.S. dollars. Converting this into another yardstick for measure, if every dollar lost to scams was made the equivalent of a second, this is 31,688 years in “scams-time.”
Intriguing.
I’m a U.S. citizen who hasn’t traveled to India, and I don’t require a VISA to stay in the USA. But, given my line of work, these calls left me wondering about the frequency of these types of immigration scams, so I did some research.
It turns out scam calls like these are neither novel nor rare. In fact, they’re coming from all sides. Last October, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted an alert about a phishing email using ICE’s name and branding and claiming the recipient needed to update specific immigration documents or else risk imprisonment or deportation.
Further digging revealed the scale of these attacks. We found reports of scammy legal offerings from purported social media attorneys and threats to deport students of Middle Eastern descent (the latter might now be particularly effective given recent news surrounding the deportation of student activists, creating anxiety for anyone on an educational visa).
Expatriates often already feel quite vulnerable, living away from the safety, security, friends, family, and culture of their native lands. Receiving a plausible and existential threat to that existence (to their education, career, love life, family, etc.) understandably can send those targeted by immigration scams into a primal state of fight or flight, increasing the likelihood they might rashly give the scammer what he wants.
This element of timely pressure is the fundamental element of all modern scams—and what makes them so increasingly fruitful for the bad actors behind them. Believing your future might implode and that waiting to act comes with great consequences makes it more likely you’ll take immediate action. Immigration scams just happen to be part of the current zeitgeist, which bad actors have and will always seek to take advantage.
Considering the amount of AI/deepfake spoofing of phone numbers and effective impersonation attempts we see today, there’s no shortage of potential fuel to drive the surge in scams in the U.S. and around the world. It’s already estimated U.S. scam losses are up by 33% year-over-year. We expect those losses to continue to grow, and major financial institutions have taken notice, evidenced by recent calls for ideas from both major banks and Congress to address the problem.
The fact is we’ve arrived at a new port of call in the fraud crisis: We’re now deep into the Scammer Era. A recent study estimates scams now account for $1 trillions dollars a year in global losses. Yes, that’s “trillion” with a “T” in U.S. dollars. Converting this into another yardstick for measure, if every dollar lost to scams was made the equivalent of a second, this is 31,688 years in “scams-time.”
It’s both deeply troublesome and incredibly impactful on victims. I recently served on a panel with another banker, who spoke about the real harm scams inflict on their victims. After severe scam events, victims can feel such a deep sense of shame, experience such intense bouts of depression, and suffer such meaningful financial losses they often require close monitoring to ensure their physical safety. By now, we’ve all seen the stories (thanks, Netflix).
The way I see it, bankers now have two choices: Sit on our hands and do nothing (or very little that will result in any tangible improvement) and let this scam epidemic continue to wreak havoc on both consumers and the overall health of the greater financial system or recognize the material actions we can take to fight back.
When I ran my fraud shop, we chose the latter and cultivated strategies to leverage behavioral intelligence and continuous session-monitoring to identify – at precision detection rates – the likelihood one of our customers was being socially engineered. Australia has already moved the needle in this regard and is experiencing a marked inversion of the volume of successful scams in the country. The rest of the world would benefit from the perspective, motivation, and call-to-action we’ve seen in Australia.
Congressional chatter here in the U.S. and large banks publicly naming this problem are both encouraging signals, but the scam ship here in the U.S. has already sailed. If we do nothing, we’ll see both losses and reputational damage to our financial institutions continue to grow, while our government crafts reactive regulation without enough of our input.
