SINGAPORE – Around US$55.3 billion ($77.2 billion) was lost to scams worldwide in 2021, according to a study done by non-profit organisation Global Anti Scam Alliance (Gasa) and data service provider ScamAdviser.
The figure was revealed by Gasa general manager Jorij Abraham during his opening speech on Wednesday at the Global Anti Scam Summit. The conference, held in the Netherlands, runs for two days.
The study – based on data collected from 48 countries including Singapore – found that the global amount lost in 2021 had risen by 15.7 per cent, from US$47.8 billion in 2020.
Victims in Singapore lost at least $633.3 million to scams in 2021, the police said in February.
Gasa brings together stakeholders such as policymakers, law enforcement agencies and cyber-security agencies to share knowledge on scams. ScamAdviser offers a service of helping people check if a website is a scam.
Speaking to a hybrid audience of over 300 attendees at the summit’s third iteration, Mr Abraham said online scams are among the most reported crimes in many countries including the United Kingdom, Russia and Singapore.
“Scams are growing, even in developing countries, because the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed people to go online, including those not experienced with using the Internet,” he said.
Investment scams, especially those involving cryptocurrency, are growing rapidly worldwide. In Singapore, investment scams accounted for the most amount of money stolen, with victims losing $190.9 million in total. The largest amount taken in a single case was $6.4 million.
Mr Abraham attributed the rise in such scams to high inflation, increasing cost of living and in some countries, high unemployment rates. “This is forcing people to look for new ways to invest or simply make ends meet. Despair makes bad counsel.”
A digital token inspired by the popular South Korean Netflix series Squid Game, for instance, scammed people of US$3.4 million in five days, he said.
The digital currency called Squid skyrocketed in price before losing all its value after its unknown creators cashed out the tokens late in 2021.
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), which gave a presentation at the conference, said phishing scams hit an all-time high in the second quarter of 2022, with a record 1.09 million unique phishing sites found from April to June.
In comparison, there were some 1.02 million such sites from January to March, and about 888,000 from October to December 2021.
Phishing is a method of obtaining personal data, in which scammers pretend to be a legitimate organisation or a person they are not.
