FYST Reveals Global Fraud Hotspots to Mark International Fraud Awareness Week

As International Fraud Awareness Week gets underway, FYST, the one-stop payments consultancy for ecommerce businesses, has revealed the fraud hotspots in each geographical region according to Google Trend data. International Fraud Awareness Week runs from November 12-18, 2023, and aims to educate individuals and organisations about the importance of fraud prevention and detection. Using Google Trends to discover the most searched-for terms in each territory, FYST found there has been a steady increase in the searches for ‘payment fraud’ over the past five years, with a significant spike between 2004 and 2005. Evgeniy Ivantsov, CMO FYST, commented: “This spike corresponds with the uptake of chip-and-pin payments in the UK - an innovation designed to reduce incidents of payment fraud, since the embedded chip offers more secure storage compared to the magnetic strip on previous cards. But search volume peaked again just last month. This could be linked to the first APP scams performance report by PSR, but also points to a growing interest from consumers in reducing fraud through innovations such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and open banking.” The FYST research also revealed the fraud hotspots in each continent based on search-term analysis:

• In Europe, the United Kingdom recorded the highest search volume in the past 12 months, followed by Ireland, then a jump down to the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, and France.
• In North America, the United States records the highest volume of searches in the region, followed by Canada. A closer look at the United States reveals some interesting patterns; Georgia records the highest volume of searches for ‘payment fraud’, closely followed by Kansas. According to data from the Federal Trade Commission, out of all states, financial scams are most prevalent in Georgia, with 437 incidents per 100,000 people. In this region, imposter scams are the most common fraud type. Notably, Vermont experiences the highest prevalence of these schemes, with imposter scams accounting for 47.32% of total fraud reports.
• Meanwhile, in South America, Mexico has recorded the highest search volume for the Spanish equivalent of ‘payment fraud’ (‘fraude de pago’) since 2003, followed by Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil.
• Over the past 12 months, the highest-ranking countries in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. Over the last five years, and since 2004, South Africa has remained top.
• In Asia, Singapore has recorded the highest search volume since 2004, followed by the Philippines. In the past five months, Singapore and the Philippines remained top of the list, followed by, India, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, and Indonesia
• Finally, Australia recorded the highest search volume across all time periods in Oceania, which it dominates geographically.

Over the past 12 months, the largest search volumes proportional to population size have been in Singapore, United Kingdom, South Africa, Ireland, and the United States (in descending order). Going back further, over the past five years, the situation is remarkably similar, although the order changes slightly to the United Kingdom taking the top spot, followed by Ireland, South Africa, Singapore, and United States. When considering search volume since 2004, the order remains exactly the same. This could indicative high levels of payment fraud, higher awareness of the issue, increased interest in the topic, or – most likely – a combination of all three. Evgeniy Ivantsov, CMO FYST, added: “Fraud is a global problem, with 2023 data showing that phishing, pharming, whaling, and ‘friendly fraud’ still prevail. It therefore seems appropriate we highlight these hotspots during International Fraud Awareness Week. “Payment fraud trends and techniques vary geographically due to differences in payment infrastructure, regulation, law enforcement, and customer behaviours around the world. Understanding the regional specificities and global hotspots for different fraud types is crucial for developing effective fraud prevention and mitigation strategies. “By understanding geographically-specific fraud search interest, stakeholders can develop targeted solutions suited to their locations and support strategic allocation of anti-fraud resources. With the global fraud problem continuing to grow in scale and complexity, it is crucial that we improve our understanding of where and how fraud is concentrating so we can create effective barriers against it.” FYST was established in 2022, with a mission of taking dynamic and disruptive fintech businesses forward and unlocking new opportunities in established and emerging markets.