Credit: Brian/Adobe Stock
Impersonation scams are up across the board as AI technology makes it easier for thieves to coerce unsuspecting victims into giving away their identity credentials, according to a report by ITRC.
A total of 9,038 crimes were reported between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the data showed, with 52% of victims reporting a misuse of personal information and 35% reporting a compromise of personal information. At 22%, checking accounts were the most reported type of existing takeover.
“The growth in impersonation scams shows a shift in the tactics used by bad actors,” ITRC’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of Victim Services Mona Terry told PropertyCasualty360.
“Criminals are increasingly leveraging AI to impersonate well-known businesses and financial institutions, making it harder for individuals to tell the difference between legitimate communication and fraudulent ones,” she said. “Education about and protecting your identity from these evolving scams is important.”
Amount of crimes per victim:
- Seventy-six percent reported one incidence.
- Fourteen percent reported two incidences.
- Six percent reported three incidences.
- Four percent reported four of more incidences.
Meanwhile, the number of people experiencing multiple identity-related incidences increased from 15% to 24% year-over-year, according to the ITRC report, while top reported scams included impersonation at 34%, job and employment at 10% and Google Voice at 9%.
Who are scammers impersonating?
- Fifty-one percent of scammers impersonated a business.
- Thirty-two percent of scammers impersonated a federal or state agency.
- Twenty-one percent of scammers impersonated a financial institution.
“Business impersonation primarily involved spoofed emails and internet searches for companies that led to fraudulent customer service numbers and/or websites, while financial impersonation largely involved inbound calls to victims,” the ITRC said in the report, with the most common pieces of sensitive personal information taken by the scammer including Social Security numbers (9%), driver’s license numbers (7%), payment card numbers (4%) and account numbers (4%).
Meanwhile, the cyber insurance market is projected to reach $21.67 billion in 2025 after peaking at roughly $17.77 billion in 2024.
“The cyber insurance market is ever changing with new insurance companies entering the market and others departing,” said Arthur Armstrong, a partner in Reed Smith’s insurance recovery group.
“Likewise, policy forms are continuously evolving to address new and different cyber risks,” he added. “Unfortunately, this has led to more exclusions and sublimits that negatively affect cyber coverage overall. A policyholder should work with an experienced broker to ensure that it is obtaining appropriate coverage with respect to scope and available policy limits.”
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.