A new financial crime report by risk management tool developer Feedzai has found an increase in phishing scams perpetrated via text message, a practice known as smishing.
The report analyzed over 1.5 billion global transactions completed in the second quarter of 2021 to paint a picture of the state of financial crime, consumer spending habits, and the top fraud trends.
Purchase scams, where consumers pay for products or services that never arrive, topped the list of fraud scams, followed by scams involving social engineering, impersonation, and account takeover (ATO).
Smishing, where scammers send text messages to trick consumers into clicking on dangerous links and sharing personal information, made it onto Feedzai's top five list for the very first time as the fifth most common fraud scam.