F-Secure Builds a Scam Field Guide From the Victim's Point of View
F-Secure launched a new Scam Encyclopedia on October 15, 2026, a free, continuously updated resource that catalogues more than 50 distinct types of consumer fraud. The project, compiled by F-Secure's Threat Intelligence team and published through the company's Illuminate Research Hub, is built from decades of threat intelligence research and is described by the company as one of the most comprehensive guides to scams and fraud available today. Its defining feature is a "victim-first" framing: rather than cataloguing scams by technical mechanism, each entry walks through what a target actually sees, what they're told, what they're asked to do, and the precise moment the deception kicks in.
Details
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Publisher | F-Secure (Threat Intelligence team) |
| Resource name | Scam Encyclopedia |
| Launch date | October 15, 2026 |
| Host platform | F-Secure Illuminate Research Hub |
| Coverage | 50+ distinct consumer scam types |
| Notable subset | 5 cryptocurrency scam variants, dozens of social media and shopping scams |
| Key researcher | Megan Squire, Principal Threat Intelligence Researcher |
| Update model | Living document, continuously revised |
| Audience | General consumers, not primarily security practitioners |
How the Encyclopedia Is Structured
Victim-first narrative, not technical taxonomy
Most scam-reference material online is organized around attack mechanics — phishing, spoofing, account takeover, and so on. F-Secure's entries instead follow the victim's experience chronologically: the initial contact or lure, the story the scammer tells, the specific action the victim is pressured to take (a wire transfer, a gift card purchase, a crypto deposit, a remote-access session), and the exact point where the "scam" element is introduced. F-Secure says this structure is meant to help readers recognize the pattern in their own lives — a text message, a dating-app match, a social media ad — before money or data changes hands, rather than requiring them to already know a scam's technical name to find relevant guidance.
Scope: established scams plus emerging methods
The encyclopedia pairs long-running scam formats (romance fraud, fake tech support, lottery and inheritance scams) with newer entries covering five distinct cryptocurrency scams, dozens of social media and online shopping scams, and emerging schemes that exploit dating apps, messaging platforms, and consumer-facing AI tools. F-Secure separately maintains a broader Scam Taxonomy that groups fraud into categories such as financial fraud (fraudulent online storefronts that take payment without delivering, or deliver counterfeit goods) and emotional manipulation (fake romantic relationships used to extract money or personal information) — the Scam Encyclopedia functions as the detailed, case-by-case layer beneath that taxonomy.
Why F-Secure says this matters now
Principal Threat Intelligence Researcher Megan Squire framed the rationale behind the project: "Scammers don't invent a new method every time they want to steal from someone. They take familiar tactics and apply them to whatever people are currently using, whether that's dating apps, texting, social media, or even AI tools. We made the Scam Encyclopedia so that the patterns are easier for people to see, because when you understand what a scammer is trying to do, you'll be able to tell when something isn't right."
That rationale is backed by F-Secure's own trend data. A related F-Secure consumer scam report found that while overall scam exposure has held roughly steady — 56% of consumers report encountering scam attempts at least monthly, and 19% of consumers report having been victimized — the financial damage has sharply worsened. 52% of scam victims now lose money, more than double the rate reported a year earlier, and F-Secure estimates nearly 40 million victims in the United States alone over the past year. Adults aged 65 to 74 who fall victim report financial loss at the highest rate of any age group, at 60%. The scam categories doing the most damage have also shifted toward higher-value targets: fake invoice fraud accounts for roughly 20% of the most damaging incidents, investment scams for about 19%, and banking or payment fraud for about 11%, reflecting a deliberate move by scammers away from small, opportunistic hits toward larger, more carefully staged losses.
Impact Assessment
| Impact Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Consumer awareness | Provides a free, searchable reference that maps real scam experiences instead of requiring victims to already know the technical name of an attack |
| Rising financial stakes | Documents that scam victimization now carries a roughly 1-in-2 chance of financial loss, up sharply from the prior year, concentrated in invoice, investment, and banking/payment fraud |
| Vulnerable populations | Highlights disproportionate financial harm to older adults (ages 65 to 74), informing targeted outreach and support programs |
| Platform and vendor pressure | Adds to evidence that scam tactics migrate quickly across dating apps, messaging, social platforms, and consumer AI tools, pressuring those platforms to harden anti-fraud controls |
| Service provider market | F-Secure's accompanying research shows a majority of consumers now factor security and scam protection into which provider they choose, and over half say they would pay for it |
| Threat intelligence value | Gives researchers and support organizations a continuously maintained reference point for tracking which scam variants are emerging versus declining |
Recommendations
For consumers
- Treat any unexpected request to move money, buy gift cards, or send cryptocurrency as an immediate red flag, regardless of how the request arrived (text, call, dating app, social media, or email).
- Before acting on an urgent financial request, verify it through a separate, independently sourced channel — call the organization back using a number you already have, not one provided in the message.
- Review entries in the Scam Encyclopedia for the platforms you use most (dating apps, marketplaces, social media, crypto exchanges) to build familiarity with the specific stories scammers tell on those platforms.
- Be especially cautious with fake invoice, investment, and banking/payment-fraud lures, since F-Secure's data shows these three categories now drive the largest financial losses.
For families and caregivers
- Given that victims aged 65 to 74 report the highest rate of financial loss when scammed, proactively discuss common scam narratives with older relatives rather than waiting for a suspicious request to surface.
- Set up transaction alerts and spending limits on accounts belonging to at-risk family members where possible, and establish a "pause and call someone" rule before any unusual payment.
For security teams and service providers
- Use victim-first scam breakdowns like F-Secure's to improve customer-facing fraud education and in-app warnings, since framing guidance around the victim experience tends to be more actionable than purely technical warnings.
- Map internal fraud-detection rules against the fastest-growing categories F-Secure identifies — fake invoices, investment lures, and banking/payment fraud — to ensure monitoring keeps pace with where losses are concentrating.
- Track the Scam Encyclopedia and similar living resources as an ongoing threat intelligence input, since F-Secure explicitly designed it to be updated as new scam variants emerge.
Key Takeaways
- F-Secure's new Scam Encyclopedia catalogues more than 50 consumer scam types, explained from the victim's point of view rather than by technical attack mechanism.
- The resource is a living document hosted on F-Secure's Illuminate Research Hub and will be updated as the Threat Intelligence team identifies new scam variants.
- Coverage spans established fraud types alongside newer schemes tied to dating apps, messaging, social media, cryptocurrency, and consumer AI tools.
- Companion F-Secure research shows scam exposure has held steady but financial damage has more than doubled, with 52% of victims now losing money and roughly 40 million U.S. victims in the past year.
- Fake invoice fraud, investment scams, and banking or payment fraud now account for the largest share of financial losses, signaling a shift toward higher-value targets.
- Adults aged 65 to 74 face the highest rate of financial loss among victims, underscoring the need for targeted family and caregiver education.
Sources
- F-Secure Launches Victim-First Scam Encyclopedia Covering 50+ Types of Consumer Fraud — DarkReading
- F-Secure launches victim-first Scam Encyclopedia covering 50+ types of consumer fraud — PR Newswire
- Scam losses double as fraud reaches more than half of all consumers, F-Secure reports — PR Newswire / Morningstar