As technology evolves, cybercriminals are doubling down on resources and ingenuity for their scams. Among the latest to date, we can cite in particular false tickets with QR codes and scams where the real telephone number of your bank is displayed while crooks are on the other end of the line. Moreover, artificial intelligence is coming more and more into scams, like fake online clothing stores, misleading browser extensions or even images generated from scratch like deepfakes. Many celebrities have been targeted by this phenomenon, and even more numerous are the Internet users who fell into his trap. This March 5, 2024, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr published her report activity of the year 2023 in order to alert Internet users to the main online threats and the significant events that have occurred.
Phishing, at the top of the flagship scams of 2023
Perhaps you yourself were the target of an online scam in 2023. According to data from the Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform, 3.7 million Internet users visited the site of the system, i.e. attendance which is stabilizing. In total, 280,000 support requests were recorded, an increase of 13% for individuals and 17% for communities, we can read.
During the year 2023, THE phishing represented “the main threat for all categories of audiences“, with nearly 1.5 million consultations content on the main forms of phishing. As a reminder, this scam attempt, also called phishing, consists of deceiving the recipient into transmitting personal data and, ultimately, stealing money. In addition, the report specifies that the most viewed content on the forms of phishing concerns the traffic offense scam, the child pornography offense scam and the technical support scam.
The fake bank advisor scam, a sad “phenomenon of 2023”
The government program also highlights the weight of thefake bank advisor scamwhich he identifies as “the phenomenon of 2023“with a jump of 78% in its dedicated articles compared to 2022.”This is the seventh most common threat in 2023 for individuals. 5,000 people came to seek assistance on Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr on this form of cyberscam and the article describing the means to deal with it was the subject of 80,000 consultations.“, details the report.
Account hacking appears as the second threat for all categories of audiences combined. In addition, the organization points to ransomware attacks, which have reached a level “record” for four years. The report warns of the fake technical support scamwhich takes third place, followed by malwaresuch as viruses, which are in fourth place among the main causes of requests for assistance among individuals.
Upcoming threats to be wary of
The support platform also wishes to announce the rise of two threats: L’romantic scam (+91% compared to 2023) and THE financial investment (+189%). Although relatively small in proportion (less than 1%), they are growing strongly. In this year 2024, the authorities are particularly afraid of seeing the birth fraud targeting the Olympic Games, expected from July 26 to August 11. For example, they fear false links offering free places for the competition, reports the newspaper Release With l’AFP. In order to protect yourself as best as possible, “we never click on the links, whether in an email or an SMS“, recalls Jérôme Notin, the general director of Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr. “And if we are contacted, we go directly to the platform supposed to write to us“, he adds, citing Colissimo, Amazon and Netflix among the brands most often usurped.
Sources:
- Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr publishes its 2023 threat report and reveals the three major trends of the year – Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr
- Fake banking advisors, ransomware and phishing… The scourges of cybersecurity in 2023 – Release