Getting Personal With Scams

It’s hard to escape the subject of scams. There should be no escape, as scams have skyrocketed in volume, cost to victims, and breadth of tactics. The financial and mental toll on victims alone should be enough to motivate industry leaders and experts to come together in a serious effort to reduce the devastating effects of scams, but the United States seems to be lagging behind in finding effective ways to make progress. 

One of the biggest issues plaguing U.S. mitigation efforts is a lack of standardization in tracking scams. The first step in establishing a successful scams mitigation strategy is knowing what consumers are experiencing, but without cohesive, industry-wide tracking, accurate analyses of scam threats remain difficult at best for most U.S. financial institutions. 

This report reviews some of the most common scam threats affecting consumers, as well as where the financial services industry can come together to fight a common enemy.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• How are financial institutions falling short of consumer needs in fighting scams?
• How is the United States faring relative to other regions when it comes to combating scams?
• How can enhanced scam tracking ease the burden for FIs in detecting and preventing scams?

Companies Mentioned: 

African Joint Operation against Cybercrime, Central Bank of Brazil, Federal Reserve, Mastercard, National Anti-Scam Centre, National Monetary Council, Payment Systems Regulator, ScamWatch, Visa