Job scams see 258% rise in victims in 2026

September 30, 2026 2 min read

Artificial intelligence is helping scammers create more convincing schemes at greater scale, increasing pressure on banks to detect manipulation.

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Job scams recorded the highest growth among the types analyzed, while investment scams account for the highest losses.

Bank scam attempts worldwide increased 35% over the past 12 months, according to data from more than 370 financial institutions that collectively serve more than 760 million users in 21 countries.

The increase is lower than the 65% reported in the previous edition of the BioCatch report. The findings suggest that banks using Behavioral Intelligence to detect fraud are having an impact on deterring scam attempts targeting their institutions.

Scams related to job offers were the fastest-growing type in 2026, with a 258% increase in the number of victims. Investment scams continue to account for the largest share of global losses, with an average value of USD 6,600 per case.

Artificial intelligence expands the scale of scams.

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Thomas Peacock, Global Fraud Intelligence Director at BioCatch, said that social engineering scams have not declined in frequency or sophistication and that artificial intelligence has made it easier to create more convincing scams on a larger scale.

“Social engineering scams have not suddenly become less frequent or sophisticated. In fact, artificial intelligence has lowered the barrier to entry for those seeking to become scammers, allowing more malicious actors to create more convincing scams on a scale never seen before. In response, many banks have understood that Behavioral Intelligence enables them to identify signs of manipulation and coercion, that is, detect when a customer is being manipulated or coerced into acting under the influence of a third party, before an account holder even authorizes a transaction”, said Thomas Peacock, Global Fraud Intelligence Director at BioCatch

The report describes behavioral and device anomalies that may appear during a session, including an active phone call, the installation of remote-access software, and the way a user adds a new beneficiary. These patterns may allow financial institutions to intervene before a potential victim loses money.

Mobile scams account for the highest volume of attempts.

Shopping scams remain the most frequent, accounting for 33% of all scam attempts reported by customers included in the analysis over the past year. Romance scam attempts, by contrast, increased 23%, below the growth rate reported by BioCatch in 2025.

The mobile component also gained ground: nine out of 10 scam sessions now originate from a mobile device, five percentage points higher than the previous year. In cases of traditional unauthorized fraud, the proportion is 75%.

Specifically, the different types show different patterns: while shopping scams account for the highest volume of attempts, investment scams record the highest average losses, at USD 6,600 per case, five times the overall average across all scam types.