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The worldwide digital space was gripped by an unprecedented surge in online scams and phishing attacks in 2022. Cybersecurity company Group-IB unveiled an alarming analysis detailing this rising threat.

Their recently launched study showed that the number of scam resources created per brand soared by 162% globally, and even more drastically in the Asia-Pacific region, with a whopping increase of 211% from 2021. The report also disclosed a more than three-fold increase in detected phishing websites over the last year.

These findings underscore the persistent cyber threat landscape, shedding light on a cyber menace that cost more than USD55 billion in damages last year, according to the Global Anti Scam Alliance and ScamAdviser's 2022 Global State of Scams Report. With these alarming trends, the scamdemic shows no signs of slowing down.

Scam campaigns are not just affecting more brands each year; the impact that each individual brand faces is growing larger. Scammers are using a vast amount of domains and social media accounts to not only reach a greater number of potential victims but also evade counteraction, explained Afiq Sasman, head of the digital risk protection analytics team in the Asia Pacific at Group-IB.

The rise in scams was attributed to increased social media use and the growing automation of scam processes. Social media platforms often serve as the first point of contact between scammers and potential victims, with 58% of scam resources created on such platforms in the Asia-Pacific region last year. Group-IB's Digital Risk Protection analysts found that more than 80% of operations are now automated in scams like Classiscam.

Using automation and AI-driven text generators by cybercriminals to craft convincing scam and phishing campaigns poses an escalating threat. Such advancements allow cybercriminals to scale operations and provide increased security within their illicit ecosystems.

The study also highlighted the uptick in scam resources hosted on the .tk domain, accounting for 38.8% of all scam resources examined by Group-IB in the second half of 2022. This development reveals the increasing impact of automation in the scam industry, as affiliate programs automatically generate links on this domain zone.

The research underscores the urgent need for robust and innovative cybersecurity measures. By leveraging advanced technologies such as neural networks and machine learning, organizations can monitor millions of online resources to guard against external digital risks, protecting their intellectual property and brand identity. Only through such proactive measures can we hope to turn the tide against the rising tide of this digital 'scamdemic.

Image credit: iStockphoto/Dragon Claws

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The Scamdemic: Can Machine Learning Turn the Tide? - CDOTrends