Why scams are on the rise — and how we can protect ourselves

“You're not just impacted by crime, but you're impacted by what you believe is a failure on your part, so you lose trust in yourself, you lose trust in society.”

With rise of advanced technology, fraudsters are tricking consumers out of more money than ever before, through more channels than ever before: emails, texts, social media, phone calls. In just the U.S., consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, a record — and many people are too embarrassed or ashamed to report they’ve been scammed.

In the latest episode of “What’s Next In,” Mastercard’s podcast that informally explores technology, innovation and ideas, host Vicki Hyman chats with Chris Reid, the company’s executive vice president of Identity Solutions, on the evolution of various fraud and scam tactics, how we’re using technology to combat them and measures we’re encouraging customers and consumers alike to take to protect their money.  

“The wonderful thing about humans is that we are inherently trusting, and that is what makes society function and be vibrant,” Reid says. “It’s that small subset of criminals who take advantage of that.”

To fight this growing threat, Mastercard last week announced Scam Protect, a suite of products and services powered by AI, biometrics and open banking. “The same cutting-edge technology that can fight fraud can also help identify and protect consumers from scams,” Reid says. “But we’re going beyond tech — we are collaborating with organizations across the ecosystem to fight scams through new technologies and education.”

To hear more from Reid, stream “What’s Next In” in the player above and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite streaming platform.