Global scam signals: what recent data from different countries is showing

There is no honest single number for “global scams”

Fraud statistics are difficult to compare across borders. Countries use different definitions, reporting systems, currencies, time periods and categories. Some datasets count complaints, some confirmed crimes, some assistance requests, and others enforcement notices.

For that reason, ScamMark does not add unrelated national figures together and call the result a global total.

What we can do is look for patterns that repeat across independent sources.

INTERPOL: financial fraud is increasingly transnational

INTERPOL's 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment describes financial fraud as one of the world's most threatening crime areas. INTERPOL reported a 54% year-to-year increase in financial-fraud-related Notices and Diffusions issued by member countries between 2024 and 2025.

That number is an INTERPOL operational measure, not an estimate of victim losses. Its value here is as a signal that fraud activity and international law-enforcement demand are increasing.

Japan: social-media investment and romance scams rose sharply

Japan's National Police Agency reported that in 2025, recognized cases of SNS-based investment fraud increased 48.5% year over year, while reported losses increased 47.9%. Recognized SNS-based romance-scam cases increased 47.6%, with losses up 36.3%.

The agency also reported that advertisements and direct messages accounted for a large share of first contact in investment scams, and that unauthorized use of public figures' images and videos appeared in scam advertising.

These figures describe Japan's reporting system, not the world. They nevertheless illustrate how investment, social-media contact and impersonation can converge in one scam journey.

France: phishing is not just an email problem

France's Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr reported that phishing represented roughly one third of assistance requests across audiences in 2025, with phishing-related assistance searches up 71% from 2024.

Its reporting also describes increasingly contextualized messages using personal details such as names, banking information or vehicle details. The lesson is important: personalized information inside a message is not proof that the sender is legitimate. Data breaches can make scams look unusually well informed.

Spain: the common mechanism is manipulation

Spain's INCIBE describes social engineering as manipulation designed to make a person take an action without realizing they are being deceived. Its consumer guidance groups phishing, smishing, vishing, fake jobs, rental scams and fake investment platforms under the same broader mechanism.

That framing is useful because it shifts attention from the story to the decision the scammer is trying to cause.

What these sources have in common

They come from different countries, languages and measurement systems, yet several themes recur:

• impersonation of trusted organizations or people;
• urgency and emotional pressure;
• movement from public platforms into private messaging;
• requests for credentials, identity information or irreversible payments;
• professional-looking websites and interfaces;
• investment narratives mixed with romance or social trust;
• increasingly personalized messages built from leaked or publicly available data.

The practical takeaway

Global prevention should not depend on memorizing one country's scam names. A more durable approach is to recognize control points:

1. Who initiated the contact?
2. What action are they trying to make happen?
3. What happens if you wait and verify independently?
4. Who controls the verification channel?
5. Is the requested payment, credential or account action difficult to reverse?

Those questions work across languages because they examine the structure of the scam rather than its script.

Check official trends for a specific country

For an evidence-checked example of within-country historical comparisons—including the difference between rising reported losses and falling complaint counts—see Are scams rising in my country?. The reference currently covers the United States, Canada and Australia, with official source links and methodological cautions.