Latin American Banks See 155% Increase in Scam Attempts

WHY THIS MATTERS: The latest figures from Latin America reveal a critical pivot in the global fraud prevention arms race: the sophistication of criminal activity is now directly proportional to the strength of bank defenses. When perimeter security measures, such as basic authentication, are fortified, attackers simply shift tactics to target the most vulnerable link in the chain: the user. The exponential rise in social engineering scams (up 155%) and attacks leveraging remote-access tools shows that criminals are professionalizing their approach, using advanced human manipulation to bypass technology. This data serves as a stark warning to financial institutions worldwide that traditional fraud models are obsolete. Banks must urgently transition from reactive defense to proactive, structural collaboration and real-time intelligence sharing to combat interconnected, network-driven economic crime. The financial industry’s ability to sustain digital growth hinges entirely on its capacity to secure the customer journey against these highly complex attacks.

Just released data from 36 Latin American financial institutions serving a combined more than 300 million customers shows social engineering scams continue to plague the region, with scam attempts increasing 155% in 2025. Equally concerning, fraud attempts utilizing a remote-access tool increased fivefold, reported malware attacks rose by 225%, and fraud cases originating from stolen devices surged by 344%.

“What we’re seeing in Latin America is a predictable evolution in fraud MOs in response to the defenses banks have put in place,” BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Tom Peacock said. “Fraudsters often rely on the most basic forms of phishing and credential theft to elude the most basic fraud defenses, but when banks start to improve customer authentication processes, criminals then shift toward real-time social engineering and remote access to victims’ devices.”

BioCatch, which prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, published these findings based off proprietary data from its customers in the region. Latin America also saw account takeover attempts almost triple between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2026. Mexican banks saw the greatest spike in this regard, with cases increasing by more than a factor of four (324%).

While reported money mule accounts throughout Latin America increased by 42% from the year before, Argentina recorded a 27% decline in mule activity. In May of 2025, three Argentinian banks announced the launch of BioCatch Trust Argentina, the hemisphere’s first, and the world’s second-ever, real-time, inter-bank, behavior-based, fraud and financial crime intelligence-sharing network.

“The success of real-time intelligence-sharing in Argentina raises a key question: Can the financial industry fight fraud without structural collaboration?” Santander Argentina Head of Fraud Prevention Sebastian Cafaro said. “In an ecosystem where fraudsters share information in real time, competition between banks can become our greatest weakness. In fraud prevention, our rivals are not the other banks. Our rivals are the attackers.”

FF NEWS TAKE: This data emphatically moves the needle for the industry, providing quantitative evidence that competition among banks is a critical weakness in the fight against organized economic crime. The 27% drop in mule activity in Argentina following the launch of a real-time intelligence network proves that structural collaboration works. This success story will catalyze similar behavioral biometrics and threat-sharing initiatives across other fragmented markets globally. The next key area to watch is how quickly regulators mandate similar cross-bank fraud intelligence platforms to level the playing field against syndicated criminal networks.