Global losses from financial fraud reached an estimated $442 billion in 2025, according to the second edition of INTERPOL’s Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment released this month.
The report, produced with input from member countries, international organisations, academia and private-sector partners, warned that fraud has become one of the most pervasive and damaging transnational crimes, ranking alongside drug trafficking and money laundering in scale and impact.
It identified the leading types of financial fraud as advance-payment fraud, business email compromise (BEC), impersonation fraud, identity fraud, insurance fraud, investment fraud, romance baiting, romance fraud, and sextortion.
“Financial fraud is now a daily reality for individuals and businesses worldwide.
“It begins with unsolicited texts, convincing emails or online offers that appear legitimate. Digital technologies, once seen as tools for progress, have instead expanded opportunities for criminals,” INTERPOL Secretary-General Valdecy Urquiza said in the foreword.
He added, “Fraud causes harm on a vast scale, with estimated losses reaching hundreds of billions of US dollars per year. But its impact is not just financial, with victims also commonly suffering lasting emotional harm.”
According to the report, estimating the financial cost of fraud is challenging for a number of reasons, including significant levels of under-reporting.
It added, “However, a range of data points indicate that the cost is very high and growing.
“For instance, one estimate suggests that global losses in 2025 totaled USD 442 billion.
“National statistics can also help to evaluate the scale and monetary loss due to financial fraud schemes.
“In the United Kingdom, the Office for National Statistics reported that fraud accounted for 43 per cent of all estimated crime in 2025.
“The City of London Police further highlighted a year-on-year rise of 33 per cent of losses linked to financial fraud, representing approximately USD 3.5 billion.
“The United States has seen a steady increase of financial loss due to fraud, from nearly USD 4 billion in 2020 to USD 16.6 billion in 2024.
“In the Asia and Pacific region, the Singapore Police Force highlighted that, despite a decrease from 2024, financial fraud remained a major security concern with losses estimated at approximately USD 721 million in 2025.”
The report said there is a proliferation of scam centres.
What began as a regional phenomenon in Southeast Asia has evolved into a worldwide threat. Scam centres, often involving human trafficking for forced online fraud, now operate across multiple continents. By late 2025, victims from nearly 80 countries had been trafficked into these centres, with no continent untouched.
Trafficked individuals, frequently lured by fake job offers, are forced to run investment scams, romance fraud, impersonation fraud and increasingly sextortion schemes. Many centres use AI-generated images and deepfakes to blackmail victims, the report stated.
In West and Central Africa, a distinct low-tech model has emerged: local networks operate under the guise of multi-level marketing companies, coercing victims into pyramid-style recruitment schemes that exploit family and community trust.
The report stated that the impact of financial fraud has been monumental.
It reads, “Beyond the immediate and often devastating financial losses suffered by individuals and organizations, research clearly shows the harm from financial fraud is much more than monetary.
“Victims of fraud often experience profound emotional distress, psychological trauma and social isolation due to an erosion of trust, the consequences of which can endure long after a fraud scheme has ended.
“In the most severe cases, victims of fraud have resorted to suicide.
“Research focusing on romance scams, in particular, highlights that beyond financial ruin, victims commonly experience guilt and shame, which frequently deter them from reporting the crime due to fear of being blamed, as evidence points to a culture of judgment and criticism in many cases.
“These factors exacerbate the issue of under-reporting mentioned above and result in fewer opportunities for agencies in the public sector to investigate fraud or support victims.”
The report highlighted increased law enforcement activity on financial fraud.
It named successful operations against financial fraud undertaken during the year as LIBERTERRA III (more than 3,700 arrests, 4,414 victims identified), RED CARD 2.0 in Africa (651 arrests), SERENGETI 2.0 (1,209 arrests, $97.4 million recovered) and HAECHI VI (32,835 arrests, $439 million recovered).
In Africa, the report noted a 60 percent increase in fraud-related Notices and Diffusions, with Europe experiencing the highest surge of 69 percent.
BEC, investment fraud and romance fraud (often evolving into sextortion) were identified as dominating on the continent.
It emphasised that a growing nexus with terrorist financing has been detected via crypto-based scams.
INTERPOL called for stronger international cooperation, intelligence sharing and coordinated action to dismantle the criminal infrastructures behind the “global fraud epidemic”.
The full 40-page assessment is available on INTERPOL’s website.
