Danes lose $1 billion to scams in 12 months
Nearly half of Danish adults say they’ve fallen victim to a scam in last 12 months
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (April 22, 2025) — A new survey of 1,000 Danes conducted by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and BioCatch, which prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, found total scam losses in Denmark exceeded $1 billion in the last 12 months, with scam victims losing an average of $840 each. Nearly 90% of scam attempts in Denmark transpire via platforms with a direct message capability, with Facebook (53%) and Gmail (45%) accounting for the majority of the outreach.
“While we see Gen-Z (81%) and male (79%) Danes feeling most confident in their ability to recognize scam messages,” BioCatch Nordics Senior Manager Gareth Williams said, “it’s members of those same demographics who, in practice, take longer to identify scam messages. This is in line with trends we’ve observed in both Germany and France, where younger generations perceived to be more digitally savvy are falling victim to scams more frequently than their elders.”
Of the 48% of those surveyed who said they’d fallen victim to a scam in the last 12 months, 75% said they reported the scam to the payment service they used for the transaction and nearly 40% of those said they were able to recover at least part of the money they lost.
Nearly 30% of Danish parents with children between the ages of seven and 17 said at least one of their children had been scammed at least once in the last 12 months.
“Scammers even target younger generations with scams on gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite,” GASA Managing Director Jorij Abraham said. “We also see student loan scams and scams offering online driver licenses. It just goes to show scammers target everyone, independent of their age, education level, or social background.”
Other key report findings:
Repeat victims: Danish scam victims were scammed an average of 2.4 times each.
• Shopping scams dominant: Two-fifths of Danish adults receiving shopping scam outreach in the last 12 months alone – more than any other scam type.
• Split responsibility: Danes differed on whom they felt ought to protect them from scams, with 33% placing the onus on commercial organizations, 31% believing it was their own responsibility, and 29% expecting public service organizations to keep them safe.
• Reimbursement demanded: Almost half of Danish adults (46%) believe banks should always be responsible for reimbursing scam victims.
• Danes admit guilt: Nearly a third of Danish adults (32%) admit to committing fraudulent acts, compared to 28% across the rest of Europe.
Click here to access GASA’s complete The State of Scams in Denmark – 2025 report.
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About BioCatch:
BioCatch prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting more than 3,000 anonymized data points – keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, physical device attributes, and more – as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's machine-learning models reveal patterns in user behavior and provide device intelligence that, together, distinguish the criminal from the legitimate. The company’s Client Innovation Board – an industry-led initiative in partnership with American Express, Barclays, Citi Ventures, HSBC, National Australia Bank, and others – collaborates to pioneer innovative ways of leveraging customer relationships for improved fraud detection. Today, 34 of the world's largest 100 banks and 257 total financial institutions deploy BioCatch solutions, analyzing 14 billion user sessions per month and protecting 447 million people around the world from fraud and financial crime.
About GASA:
The Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting worldwide consumers from scams. With more than 100 member organizations, GASA unites governments, law enforcement, consumer protection organizations, financial authorities & providers, brand protection agencies, social media, Internet service providers, and cybersecurity companies in a collaborative environment to share insights, research, and solutions to protect consumers from fraud and scams. Additional information can be found at www.gasa.org.
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Mac King
BioCatch senior comms manager
Mac.King@BioCatch.com
Sam Rogers
GASA marketing director
BioCatch senior comms manager
Sam.rogers@gasa.org
+31 (0) 645-130-670
