INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security

Kush Parikh , President Hiya

The findings are revealed in Hiya ’ s Q3 2024 Global Call Threat Report , which explores the volume , frequency , and type of phone spam and fraud in more than 40 countries from July to September 2024 . Spam is defined as unwanted calls , and includes both fraud calls and nuisance calls .

The greatest threat globally comes from fraudsters posing as banks and credit card companies . In every country , people are now being subjected to spam calls of this nature . The fraudsters ’ aim is clear : convincingly impersonate banks or credit card companies enough to get their victims to reveal account information and passwords to gain access to bank accounts and remove funds .

Fraudsters impersonating Amazon were the second most common global threat . Fraud callers aim to scare victims into thinking there is a problem with a card linked to their Amazon account or trick them into sharing personal information to verify their details to complete an order or delivery .

On a country level , the volume of spam calls and the types of frauds differ greatly . Brazil tops the list with an astounding average of 28 per month , which means people receive them daily , 14 % of which are fraud . By contrast , in Germany , the average rate of spam calls is as low as 2 per person each month . Spain received the most spam calls in Europe at 13 per month and recorded the highest rate of fraud calls .

US citizens have seen spam call rates increase from an average of 11 to 13 per month since Q3 2024 . Medicare frauds continue to dominate and are likely to increase in Q4 during its open enrolment period . Scammers ' tactics here are different , rather than entice victims to hand over financial information , it is personal information such as their Medicare number that is deemed more valuable , so they can falsely bill the US government .

The US also saw a high proportion of insurance frauds , which ranked second . Fraudsters also impersonated IRS tax agents , Amazon and Google representatives , and police personnel to defraud their victims , many of whom have been identified as robocalls .

Following the trend of the last two years , HMRC frauds dominated as the most common phone frauds , with fraudsters fishing for personal and financial information under the threat of unpaid taxes . Amazon frauds ranked second , closely followed by credit card frauds , specifically those impersonating Visa and Mastercard .

In fourth position were immigration frauds , however , delivery frauds with fraudsters impersonating Royal Mail , DHL , and UPS continued during the summer months .

Kush Parikh , President at Hiya said : “ Despite growing awareness of the risks , fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated , fuelled in part by the latest technology to adapt their tactics .”

But it is clear more needs to be done by the finance sector , government departments like HMRC , and large global brands like Amazon and Google to ensure customers have a clear picture of what a legitimate call looks like . p

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