Scam Robocalls Forecast to Cost $58bn This Year

The cost of fraudulent robocalls to victims will increase 9% from 2022 to reach $58bn globally this year, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

The market analyst revealed the news in a new report out today: Robocall Mitigation: Strategies, Business Models & Market Forecasts 2023–2027.

Auto-dialling software that delivers pre-recorded messages is widely available and used by both legitimate marketers and scammers.

Although the tech can be used by healthcare providers, airline operators and the like to provide automate service updates and reminders for customers, robocalls are frequently viewed as a nuisance.

Read more on robocalls: VoIP Carriers Investigated Over Fraudulent Robocalls.

Juniper Research warned that fraudsters will continue to outwit attempts to mitigate their efforts, driving robocall scam losses to $70bn globally by 2027.

Efforts to combat these scams include STIR/SHAKEN, a US industry initiative designed to tackle the caller ID spoofing used by many scammers to hide their true identity.

In fact, North America is the region most impacted by fraudulent robocalls, set to account for over half of all losses in 2023, the report claimed.

However, STIR/SHAKEN has done some good, reducing growth in robocall fraud-related losses in North America by an estimated 85% between 2022 and 2023, said Juniper.

The analyst is forecasting a decline in losses in the region for the first time by 2025 and urged stakeholders outside North America to adopt their own version of the framework, as well as initiatives to stop call forwarding and other typical fraudulent call tactics.

It added that brand authentication technology could play a key role over the coming years in tackling robocall fraud, by enabling users to definitively verify the authenticity of a brand on their smartphone screen before picking up.

In the meantime, regulators continue to crack down on those abusing robocall technology.

In December, the FCC announced a $300m fine against one company for “egregious violations” of industry regulations.