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Cyber-enabled fraud is escalating worldwide and is the primary driver of international money laundering, a Paris-based anti-money laundering body claims in its latest report.
A total of 156 countries now categorize scams as a major financial crime risk. Cyber-enabled fraud is one of the most “widespread and damaging profit-motivated crimes today, generating large volumes of illicit proceeds through the exploitation of victims around the world,” the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said.
The watchdog attributed the growing threat of cyber fraud to prevalent digitalization and technological advancements which have “expanded the scale, speed, and complexity” of modern fraud. These factors have enabled criminals to exploit digital platforms and instant payment systems, particularly leveraging their borderless nature to move money rapidly across countries and continents.
"As fraudsters continue to adapt and accelerate their scams, we need to keep pace to safeguard people's money and protect victims from the effects of damaging losses,” said FATF President, Elisa de Anda Madrazo.
The impact is being felt acutely in major financial hubs. In the United Kingdom, fraud now accounts for over 40% of all reported crimes, while Singapore has seen scam cases surge by 61% in just two years. In the United States alone, the FATF estimates that public losses from these schemes have reached tens of billions of dollars.
OCCRP previously reported that in 2024 alone, the U.K. banking industry lost 1.17 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) to fraud last year, as criminals carried out more than 3.3 million scams, according to data from UK Finance.
The industry of cyber scams has evolved into a borderless threat, with the prevalence of global call center scams. In March 2025, OCCRP published Scam Empire, an investigation revealing how criminal call centers use fake investment schemes to target thousands of victims worldwide, exposing the inner workings of these industrial-scale operations.