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NetarxImpact Database
Analysis

What the catalogue shows

Every chart below is computed live from the 277 entries in the database, with percentages taken over the 272 that are incidents or campaigns rather than agency benchmarks. These are patterns in what has been publicly reported and catalogued here, which is not the same as patterns in what happened. Coverage is denser for recent years and for English-language reporting.

18%
of entries since 2023 involve AI
Up from 4% before 2023
47%
arrive over a live channel
Phone, video call, help desk or callback
$5.4B
victims actually lost
Across the 54 entries with a comparable figure
1.8B
people or records exposed
Overlapping across entries

Entries per year, and how many involved AI

The rise after 2022 reflects both a real increase in reported social engineering and denser coverage of recent years. The red share is what is new: attacks where a cloned voice or a synthetic face did the persuading.

3
2013
6
2014
6
2015
11
2016
6
2017
14
2018
10
2019
11
2020
5
2021
29
2022
22
2023
26
2024
70
2025
48
2026
AI confirmed or suspectedNo AI reported

How the attacker reached a person

Counting primary vectors only.

Vishing (Voice Phishing)
54
Credential Phishing Portal
36
Business Email Compromise
32
Spear Phishing (Email)
28
Help Desk Impersonation
20
Vendor / Supply Chain Impersonation
15
Voice Clone / Audio Deepfake
11
Fake IT Worker Infiltration
10
Insider Recruitment
9
Smishing (SMS)
9
Deepfake Video Call
8
Fake Job Offer / Recruitment Lure
8
SIM Swap
8
Watering Hole / Malvertising
7
Romance / Investment Scam
5
MFA Fatigue / Push Bombing
3
Physical Pretexting
3
Tech Support Scam
3
QR Code Phishing
2
Callback Phishing (TOAD)
1

Sectors targeted

Where the victim organisation sat.

Technology
52
Cryptocurrency
31
Government
27
Consumer
21
Financial Services
20
Other
18
Healthcare
15
Retail
14
Manufacturing
12
Transportation & Logistics
10
Education
9
Media & Entertainment
9

What it led to

Entries can have more than one outcome.

Data Breach
145
Credential Theft
114
Wire Fraud / Financial Loss
73
Extortion
58
Identity Theft
45
Cryptocurrency Theft
37
Espionage
31
Service Disruption
31
Attempt Blocked
26
Insider Access
19
Ransomware Deployment
16
Supply Chain Compromise
16

What the money figures measure

Published loss numbers are not interchangeable. Only the first two kinds are summed anywhere on this site.

Funds lost
51
Multi-victim total
16
Business impact
11
Criminal proceeds
7
Ransom paid
3
Assets seized
1

Evidence quality

How firmly each entry is established, and how many involved AI.

Confirmed
190
Reported
76
Alleged
6
No AI reported
190
Unknown
48
Confirmed AI-enabled
24
Suspected AI-enabled
10

These aggregates are available as JSON at global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/api/stats. For how entries are collected and classified, see the methodology.