Six in 10 Londoners report increase in scam attempts over last 12 months as fraudsters embrace AI
ExtraHop report finds nearly half of ransomware victims suffer data theft before detection
CISO news
Six in 10 Londoners report increase in scam attempts over last 12 months as fraudsters embrace AI
early six in ten( 58 %) Londoners have seen an increase in financial fraud and scams attempts over the past year,
N higher than any other region in the UK, according to new research from global payment service provider, emerchantpay.
Alongside a rise in attempts, fraudsters are increasingly targeting Londoners with personalised social media scams with more than four in 10( 43 %) seeing a spike over the last 12 months – above the national average of 34 %.
Despite increased exposure, Londoners may also be taking more risks when shopping online. Only two thirds( 68 %) say they avoid making purchases from links shared with them on social media due to concerns around fraud, below the UK average of 75 %.
Alexander Berrai, Deputy CEO at emerchantpay, said:“ The growing sophistication of scams, particularly those enhanced by AI, is creating new challenges for consumers and businesses alike. Fraudsters are becoming increasingly effective at creating convincing and personalised communication that can be difficult to distinguish from legitimate offers for Londoners.
“ Whilst consumers must stay alert of the latest scams and avoid unnecessary risks, retailers must ensure that they are enhancing consumer protections and keeping shoppers safe as well.”
There are also significant concerns around the stigma of falling victim to fraud, which may lead to a reluctance to report scams. Nearly a third( 29 %) of Londoners say they would not report losing less than £ 100 to a scam, substantially higher than the national average of 17 %. More than half( 51 %) worry about being judged if they fall victim to fraud, compared with an average of 39 %.
ExtraHop report finds nearly half of ransomware victims suffer data theft before detection
When asked which attack surfaces represent the biggest cybersecurity risk to their organisation, more than half( 55 %) of respondents cited AI agents, agentic infrastructure and Gen AI applications.
Concerns over AI risks were validated as a majority( 85 %) of respondents identified security incidents, data exposures or near misses where the root cause of the incident was an AI system.
LockBit and RansomHub were the two threat groups most detected within enterprise networks for the second year in a row.
xtraHop, a leader in modern network detection and response( NDR), has released the 2026 ExtraHop Global
E
Threat Landscape Report, exposing the reality of modern cyberdefence in the age of AI.
Adversaries had access to enterprise networks for nearly two and a half weeks on average before being detected in ransomware incidents.
Forty-nine percent of organisations did not detect the threat until after data was stolen, while 14 % were unaware of an attack until they received a ransom demand.
The comprehensive analysis examines an environment where rapid AI adoption has unlocked new entry points for adversaries and accelerated their velocity, while security teams still struggle to keep pace, unable to uncover hidden threats while drowning in prolonged dwell times and escalating alert noise.
“ When you look at the big picture of modern cyber-risk, the thread connecting every major challenge, from missed detections and prolonged dwell times to AI false positives, is a fundamental lack of situational awareness or ground truth,” said Raja Mukerji, Co-founder and Chief Scientist, ExtraHop.
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