Guardio announced the findings of its Q1 2024 Brand Phishing Report, revealing the most impersonated brands in phishing attacks and spotlighting new, sophisticated scam trends.
According to Guardio’s analysis covering January through March 2024, USPS was impersonated in 11.6% of all phishing attempts, marking a significant pivot towards brands associated with daily communications and online transactions. The USPS brand leaped from twelfth to first in terms of brand misuse within just two quarters, underscoring a distressing rise in its exploitation by scammers to deceive individuals.
Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Steam were among the top impersonated brands, indicating a continued threat to users across technology, gaming, and social media sectors.
The report details the percentage of impersonations for the top ten brands, including:
- USPS: 11.6%
- Microsoft: 9.3%
- Meta: 6.3%
- Steam: 3.2%
- Telegram: 2.9%
- AT&T: 2.7%
- Charles Schwab: 2.6%
- Uniswap: 2.3%
- DHL: 2.3%
- OneDrive: 2.0%
Emerging Scams: The Rise of Deepfake Technology
Guardio’s report also sheds light on the alarming use of deepfake technology in scams, creating new challenges in digital security. Fraudulent endorsements by AI-generated likenesses of celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, and Selena Gomez, promoting high-end cookware and beauty products, have led to significant financial losses for consumers lured by these incredibly lifelike scams.
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