A Survey of Scam Exposure, Victimization, Types, Vectors, and Reporting in 12 Countries

TL;DR

This comprehensive survey across 12 countries reveals global scam patterns, highlighting the internet's role, economic disparities in victimization, and widespread under-reporting, providing valuable insights for prevention efforts.

Contribution

The study offers the first large-scale, cross-national quantitative analysis of scam exposure, victimization, types, vectors, and reporting behaviors.

Findings

Less affluent countries experience higher financial losses from scams.

The internet is a major vector for scams worldwide.

Under-reporting of scams is prevalent, especially in poorer countries.

Abstract

Scams are a widespread issue with severe consequences for both victims and perpetrators, but existing data collection is fragmented, precluding global and comparative local understanding. The present study addresses this gap through a nationally representative survey (n = 8,369) on scam exposure, victimization, types, vectors, and reporting in 12 countries: Belgium, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. We analyze 6 survey questions to build a detailed quantitative picture of the scams landscape in each country, and compare across countries to identify global patterns. We find, first, that residents of less affluent countries suffer financial loss from scams more often. Second, we find that the internet plays a key role in scams across the globe, and that GNI per-capita is strongly associated with specific scam types and contact vectors. Third, we find widespread under-reporting, with residents of less affluent countries being less likely to know how to report a scam. Our findings contribute valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the online fraud and scam prevention space.