Misc
Visualizing Global Losses from Financial Scams
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Visualizing Global Losses from Financial Scams
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Last year, financial scams led to almost half a trillion dollars in losses worldwide, roughly equal to the GDP of Singapore.
As fintech has advanced globally, cyber-criminals have exploited various platforms in complex attacks. Often, they will steal customers’ account information on digital payment systems and online banking sites as a highly lucrative form of attack.
This graphic shows the scale of financial losses from scams and schemes, based on data from Nasdaq’s Global Financial Crime Report for 2024.
The Most Common Types of Financial Scams
In 2023, there were $485.6 billion lost in total from financial scams, and below we break down the specific scams that generated the biggest losses:
Type of Financial Scam/Scheme | Global Losses (USD) |
---|---|
Payments Fraud | $386.8B |
Credit Card Fraud | $28.6B |
Check Fraud | $26.6B |
Advance Fee Scams | $19.1B |
Cyber-enabled Scams | $10.0B |
Impersonation Scams | $6.8B |
Employment Scams | $3.9B |
Confidence Scams | $3.8B |
Total | $485.6B |
Payments Fraud the Top Financial Scam
Payments fraud makes up a staggering 80% of the total. This type of fraud occurs when payment methods are illegally manipulated to deceive or steal from a person or business.
One example of a key risk point for payments fraud are real-time payments. Here, fraudsters exploit payment systems through rerouting fund transfers. Along with this, cyber-criminals will use “banking trojans” as a primary weapon to hack account information. This type of attack lures users to click on a malicious PDF file, website, or app which steals information on a device.
Interestingly, a separate analysis showed that Brazil was the top country in the world for banking trojan scams, with 1.8 million attempted attacks over the course of June 2022 to July 2023.
Going further, business email compromise, a type of payments fraud, was the source of $6.7 billion in losses in 2023. These types of scams involve fraudsters masquerading as legitimate businesses to deceive unsuspecting customers into sending payments into fraudulent accounts.
Credit Card Fraud
Another key source of financial losses was credit card fraud.
In fact, one of the most common forms of this type of fraud is skimming, where an electronic device can be placed in an ATM which steals information in a cards magnetic strip. On average, skimming costs American consumers and financial institutions $1 billion annually.
Maps
Map: Where Are America’s Largest Landfills?
According to the EPA, the U.S. produced 292 million tons of solid waste in 2018, of which 150 million headed to some of the largest landfills in the country.
Map: Where Are America’s Largest Landfills?
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
We map out America’s largest landfills, based on their total capacity (measured in millions of tons) for solid waste. Data for this graphic is sourced from Statista and is current up to 2023.
According to the EPA, the U.S. produced 292 million tons of solid waste in 2018. Of that, about 150 million tons headed to the country’s landfills. It would take more than 600 of the largest cargo ships (by dead weight tonnage) to move this much material at once.
Ranked: America’s Largest Landfills
Opened in 1993 and located 25 minutes from Las Vegas, Apex Landfill is believed to be one of the world’s largest landfills by both area and volume.
It spans 1,900 acres, or roughly the size of 1,400 football fields. Given its vast capacity, the landfill is expected to be able to accept waste for over 250 years.
Here are the top 10 largest landfills in the country.
Rank | U.S. Landfill | State | Capacity (Million Tons) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Apex Regional | Nevada | 995 |
2 | ECDC Environmental | Utah | 482 |
3 | Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site | Colorado | 396 |
4 | Columbia Ridge | Oregon | 393 |
5 | Lockwood Regional | Nevada | 346 |
6 | Okeechobee | Florida | 242 |
7 | Butterfield Station | Arizona | 226 |
8 | Roosevelt Regional MSW | Washington | 219 |
9 | Wasatch Regional | Utah | 203 |
10 | Hillsborough County | Florida | 203 |
In a 2021 PBS interview, a spokesperson for Apex Landfill reported that the facility captured and treated enough landfill gas to power nearly 11,000 homes in Southern Nevada.
In fact, landfills can create electricity through a process called landfill gas (LFG) recovery. When organic waste decomposes, it produces methane gas which can be captured and purified to create fuel for generators.
As it happens, methane gas from landfills is the third-largest source of human-related carbon emissions, equivalent to 24 million gas passenger vehicles driven for one year. Its capture and treatment is a significant opportunity to combat emissions.
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