Scams Have Gone Omnichannel: New Global Report Tracks Fraud Across Web, SMS, Social and Voice

Every year, scams drain more than $450 billion from consumers and economies worldwide. That is not “petty fraud.” That is roughly half the annual GDP of Switzerland or Poland disappearing into criminal infrastructure, mule accounts, fake investment platforms, malicious ads, call centers and messaging-app operations.

At this scale, scams are not an internet nuisance, but rather an underground economy with the financial weight of a developed nation, operating across borders, platforms and languages, with victims recruited through ads, social media feeds, SMS messages, WhatsApp conversations, websites and phone calls.

Key takeaways

• Scams have gone omnichannel: fraud now moves across web, SMS, social media, messaging apps, email and voice calls, often as coordinated campaigns.
• Social media is a major scam delivery channel: malicious ads and fake promotions now blend into feeds, reels, sponsored posts and platform-native content.
• Trust is the main attack surface: scammers abuse familiar brands, caller ID, business accounts, compromised profiles and messages from people victims already know.
• Financial scams dominate: investment fraud, banking phishing, crypto lures and fake support schemes remain among the most persistent and damaging scam categories.
• Consumers need cross-channel skepticism: “spot the bad email” is obsolete; people must verify links, calls, payment requests and account alerts independently.

Bitdefender’s Global Scam Intelligence Report 2026 looks at this problem from the front lines. The report is based on telemetry and analysis collected throughout 2025, including web threats, SMS campaigns, social media scam ads, WhatsApp conversations, voice-call activity, honeypot interactions and consumer-facing scam patterns.