Global losses related to financial fraud in 2025 alone have been estimated at $442 billion, according to an INTERPOL report. 

Beyond financial damage, individual victims commonly experience shame and psychological trauma, said the INTERPOL Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment.

Since 2024, the number of fraud-related Notices and Diffusions has increased by 54 per cent, the majority issued by European member countries. Over the same period, INTERPOL has supported member countries in more than 1,500 transnational fraud cases in lost assets valued at $1.1 billion, it said.

INTERPOL assesses the overall global risk related to financial fraud as HIGH and expects the scale of offending to escalate significantly over the next three to five years, mainly due to increased availability of AI technology and low barriers to entry.

Global spread of scam centres

Initially, scam centres emerged as a regional phenomenon. However, the trend has now evolved into a global threat, with centres discovered across multiple regions. These centres engage hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom are forced to perpetrate online frauds. To date victims from nearly 80 countries have been trafficked into online scam centres, with no continent left untouched.

Fraud increasingly enabled by AI tools

Dark Web marketplaces offer applications which can clone voices and faces from mere seconds of genuine audio or video samples, enabling criminals to impersonate celebrities or associates of intended victims.

“Agentic AI” can autonomously plan and execute fraud campaigns from start to finish.  INTERPOL reports a global surge in these AI-enhanced fraud schemes, notably sextortion, intertwined with investment scams, as well as impersonation frauds, including fake kidnappings for ransom.

Criminal networks cooperating globally

Criminal networks perpetrating fraud adapt their illicit business models to optimise efficiency, including through collaboration with specialised money laundering networks. INTERPOL assesses these offenders as highly organised, skilled and agile.

There is an increasing nexus between financial fraud and terrorist financing across the African region. Terrorist groups operating in the African region have been found to rely on fraud schemes for resource generation, especially via crypto-based scams, the report said. -TradeArabia News Service