Brazilians Lose an Estimated $54 Billion to Scams Over the Past Year, GASA warns

According to the recently released "State of Scams in Brazil 2024" report from the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), in collaboration with ScamAdviser and Whoscall, scams are wreaking havoc on millions of Brazilians. The report revealed losses of approximately BRL 297.7 billion ($54 billion) due to scams in the past 12 months, painting a sobering picture of the prevalence of fraudulent activity targeting citizens.

With average losses of $1000 per victim, the GASA report highlights a surge in scam attempts, with 94% of respondents claiming to have encountered a scam attempt at least once per month. Most alarmingly, the impact of financial losses reigned heavily on scam victims, and only 4% of impacted individuals claimed to have fully recovered lost funds.

Here’s a list of the most common types of scams affecting Brazil, according to GASA:

• Shopping Scams and Identity Theft: Shopping scams, which often involve fake e-commerce sites or fraudulent transactions, are rampant. Identity theft is also widespread, leaving victims exposed to further financial abuse.
• Phone and SMS-Based Scams: Phone calls and SMS are the primary scam delivery methods. Notably, SMS-based scams saw a 23% increase this year, demonstrating scammers' strategic use of direct communication to reach victims.
• Social Media Manipulation: Platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram are frequent vectors for scams. WhatsApp scams alone surged by 15%, signaling an increase in fake messages and account impersonation on the platform.

Related: Phishing Scams: How to Identify and Avoid Them

Speed and efficiency characterize scams in Brazil, with 61% of fraudulent schemes executed within just 24 hours of initial contact, leaving victims with little time to recognize the scam or seek help. Beyond the financial losses, the emotional toll of scams is also substantial. Approximately 45% of victims reported a strong emotional impact, a 25% rise over the past year, with many Brazilians indicating a diminished trust in digital interactions.

Although 62% of Brazilians feel confident in their ability to recognize scams—an increase from last year—this awareness has not translated into an effective reduction in scam incidents. The report shows that 66% of victims do not report scams to authorities, often due to perceived ineffectiveness or complexity in the reporting process. Those who do report scams turn to banks and local law enforcement.

Recommendations for a Stronger Anti-Scam Response in Brazil

The report also outlines essential strategies to address the scam crisis, emphasizing a coordinated, approach involving public education, simplified reporting, and technology-driven solutions. Some of the report’s core recommendations include public awareness campaigns, streamlining the reporting process, utilizing anti-fraud technologies such as AI-powered detection tools, and strengthening victim support resources and recovery mechanisms.

“To combat the growing threat of scams in Brazil, several measures must be taken: enhanced public awareness campaigns, simplified reporting mechanisms, collaboration between private and public sectors, improving victim support and recovery processes, and leveraging technology, such as anti-fraud apps and AI-based scam detection,” Jorij Abraham, GASA Managing Director said.

How Bitdefender Can Help

As a member of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), we play a key role in protecting netizens against scams. Bitdefender leverages advanced cybersecurity technologies and AI to detect and prevent fraudulent activity in real-time across multiple platforms, including:

• Web Protection to secure your browsing and block malicious or fraudulent websites.
• Email Protection to shield your inbox against phishing attempts
• Scam Alert to monitor SMS and chats for scams and malicious links
• Scamio: Our FREE  AI-powered scam detector helps users identify scams through various channels, including web browser, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Discord.

The scam detection tool is free to use and offers a user-friendly interface where users can check if any suspicious correspondence, they have received is a scam attempt, or they can describe a conversation or scenario to receive a verdict in seconds. You can also help others stay safe by sharing Scamio with them in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, Australia, and the UK

• Scam Copilot: AI-powered platform designed to detect and defend against the latest scams alongside a personal scam advisor chatbot, proactive scam alerts about emerging scams in your area, real-time detection of scams when browsing and remote access scam protection among others.

You can read more about Scam Copilot here.