Frequency of encountering scams

The period when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out globally was also the time when cyber fraud exploded, involving large-scale data leaks by governments and businesses around the world in an effort to digital transformation force. In the survey for Asia 2023 scam report, GASA and Gogolook conducted a survey of "frequency of encountering scams" among people in 11 Asian countries. Let's Anti-Phishing (CLD) learn more about this study in more detail.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, governments and businesses around the world have suffered widespread data breaches in their digital transformation efforts, creating vulnerability for scammers. This has led to a significant increase in fraudulent activity, especially in Southeast Asia regions that were previously less affected.

According to statistics from Whoscall, a number recognition software, the average number of scam calls and messages received per person in Asia increased from 8.9 times in 2020 to 15 times in 2022, reflecting The compound annual growth rate is 29.8%. Despite the
Anti-fraud measures and aggressive legislation have been adopted by governments around the world, they have not yet been able to fully combat the “normalization” of living alongside scammers.

In the GASA and Gogolook survey, respondents from various Asian countries were asked how often they encountered various types of scams within a year.

This survey covers phishing attempts through advertising, emails, phone calls, text messages and websites, including both traditional and emerging phishing channels.

The results indicate that Hong Kong has the highest fraud rate among the 11 regions surveyed, with 45% of respondents saying they encounter scams “every day” and 26% saying they encounter scams “ most weeks”, significantly higher than other regions in Asia. Thailand, the country with the second highest frequency, had 16% people who said they encountered scams “every day” and 30% people who said they encountered scams “most weeks,” far ahead of Malaysia and Taiwan.

In contrast, the frequency of fraud rates in the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia and China remains relatively low. Notably, 11% of Japanese respondents said they had never encountered scams, showing that the rate and increase in scams varies across different Asian regions.