Phone scam losses increased 527% in past year

Financial losses from phone scams were up 527% in 2023 compared to 2022.

In 2022, the average amount lost by consumers who were scammed was $360. In 2023, that figure jumped to $2,257! What’s more, some victims reported losing more than $6,000 to phone scams in 2023. And phone scams are anything but rare: 16% of consumers say they lost money to a phone scam in the past year.

Those figures come from Hiya’s 2024 State of the Call, a global study of the trends shaping the voice-calling industry. Data in the report is based on a survey of more than 12,000 consumers, 1,800 workers who use the phone in their occupation, and 600 security and IT professionals. Respondents were based in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and Spain. 

Download the 2024 State of the Call report.

Losses from phone scams vary by country

Although $2,257 was the average amount lost by consumers who were scammed, the State of the Call report found that losses varied greatly by country. For example, in Canada, the average amount lost was $798 per person, while residents of France lost $3,596 and Germans lost $4,649 per person! (All numbers are converted to US dollars.)

The number of incoming scam calls didn’t seem to affect the amount lost. Residents of Germany received an average of only 2 spam calls per person each month, yet Germans lost the most money to fraudulent calls: $4,649. US citizens receive an average of 13 spam calls per month, yet their dollar losses are on the lower end, at $865 per person.

Money isn’t the only thing lost

Losing money to phone scams can be devastating, but there are other adverse consequences, such as loss of time.

Hiya’s report reveals that on average, worldwide, consumers lose the equivalent to one full work day each year simply screening unwanted calls. Consumers report they spend 9 minutes each week — about 7.6 hours per year — screening those unwanted calls. Residents of Germany reported the most time lost, followed by the United States. 

Money isn't the only thing lost

Losing money to phone scams can be devastating, but there are other adverse consequences, such as loss of time.

Hiya’s report reveals that on average, worldwide, consumers lose the equivalent to one full work day each year simply screening unwanted calls. Consumers report they spend 9 minutes each week — about 7.6 hours per year — screening those unwanted calls. Residents of Germany reported the most time lost, followed by the United States.

The cost of phone fraud for businesses

Consumers aren’t the only ones being affected by phone scams. Businesses lose too. Here are some of the harmful effects on businesses:

• Damage to reputation – Most phone scams are imposter scams — where a bad actor pretends to represent a well known brand, such as Amazon, Apple, or Chase Bank. Hiya’s survey found that 33% of consumers say that impersonation calls have made them suspicious of any calls coming from that business.
• Declining answer rates – Hiya’s survey reveals that 92% of consumers believe unidentified calls are fraudulent, and 43 percent of consumers will never answer unidentified calls. Consumers are becoming less and less likely to answer any call unless they know who is calling them. (Want to increase answer rates? Learn more about Hiya’s Branded Caller ID.)
• Employees are targeted – 70% of IT and security leaders report that their business experiences one or more inbound call attacks each year — attacks where scammers use voice to trick employees into handing over sensitive information or access credentials for IT systems — and 34% say their business has fallen victim to a phone scam. One high profile example is the attack on MGM Resorts in 2023, where a scammer impersonated an employee and called the IT help desk to obtain credentials, resulting in millions of dollars lost.
  

Why is more money being lost to phone scams?

There’s no single answer to why more money is being lost to phone scams, but it’s likely to be related to the type of scams being perpetrated. Scams that made Hiya’s list of Top 10 phone scams of 2023 included bank & credit card scams (#1) and investment & cryptocurrency scams (#9). Those tend to have higher dollar losses than other types of scams.

There’s also been an increase in grandparent scams where criminals demand a hefty ransom for the release of a family member. In our recent blog post Billions lost to pension scams in the UK, we saw how scammers with the right information can quickly drain a victim’s pension account. One government official said some UK pensioners were losing “life-changing sums.”  

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission reports that in 2023 American consumers lost more than $10 billion to fraud. The fraud category with the highest losses was investment scams, which accounted for $4.6 billion in losses. 

Get the 2024 report

Want more insights into voice trends of consumers, businesses and IT professionals? Download the 2024 State of the Call report by clicking below.