Telephone scams through vishing cause 29% of digital losses in Chile, according to report
TransUnion investigation shows fraudulent calls lead the ranking of cyber deceptions in the country, with an average loss of 1.3 million Chilean pesos per victim.
Telephone scams through vishing cause 29% of digital losses in Chile, according to report
Fake calls and voice messages—referred to as vishing—were identified as the factor that has cost Chilean users the most money in terms of online crime losses over the past year. This is established by an analysis published by TransUnion, in which nearly three out of ten people who suffered financial losses from this type of crime (29%) pointed to vishing as the mechanism used against them.
The document, titled "Main Fraud Trends", specifies that the average monetary damage suffered by each victim in the country amounted to 1,307,129 Chilean pesos. At the same time, roughly a quarter of those surveyed (23%) acknowledged having lost money due to some form of digital fraud during the last twelve months.
Regarding the total volume of transactions, only 1.5% of transactions carried out by consumers in Chile during 2025 generated fraud alerts. This percentage is lower than the global index, calculated at 3.8%, and represents the lowest level among the set of Latin American nations studied. However, experts emphasise that the greatest number of criminal attempts concentrated specifically on access or login to various online services.
Juan Pablo Muñoz, chief executive of TransUnion in Chile, noted that cybercriminals take advantage of the trust that internet users place in their already-validated profiles and in previously established digital interactions. "In the country, those who commit these illegal acts achieve results in spaces where trust already exists, especially on the most widely used digital platforms, where users assume there is security and legitimacy," he stated.
In the list of reported methods, after vishing appear the recruitment of money "mules" (20%), identity impersonation (18%), payment card information theft (17%), psychological manipulation or social engineering (16%), phishing (15%), unauthorised account takeover (14%) and smishing (13%).
Muñoz also warned that scammers have modified their tactics, shifting towards the initial phases of digital contact: rather than attacking already-active accounts, they prefer to infiltrate during the registration stage, concealing identity fraud until the amounts defrauded grow.
The survey determined that, during 2025, the logistics sector was the most heavily targeted by fraud attempts in Chile, with an incidence of 11.2%. In second and third place were video game sites (3.3%) and virtual betting houses (3.1%).
As protective measures, analysts suggested to the public that they protect their private data, disregard unexpected communications and monitor their credit history regularly. They also urged companies to develop protection mechanisms that go beyond mere legal compliance.
_Source: G5noticias_
Source: Google News CL — Crime