Cyber-attackers using AI stole 2.2 billion crowns; young people are targets
More than 75,000 attacks and 2.2 billion stolen crowns so far this year – cyber fraud in the Czech Republic is growing rapidly. The most vulnerable are people aged 18 to 34.
Cyber fraud in the Czech Republic: AI helps attackers, increasingly younger victims
By the end of September, Czech scammers recorded more than 75,000 attacks – that is, 277 daily – and stole a total of more than 2.2 billion crowns. Compared with the same period last year, this represents an increase of 840 million crowns. The average damage per customer reaches nearly 29,000 crowns. As Deník.cz reports, artificial intelligence is significantly easing the work of fraudsters, and detecting fraud is becoming increasingly difficult.
Banks have managed to protect 9.6 billion crowns since the beginning of the year, which represents more than 81 per cent of all funds that attackers attempted to drain. Nevertheless, losses remain enormous.
Man from the Českobudějovice region lost 1.5 million crowns
A concrete example of cyber fraud is illustrated by the case of a man from the Českobudějovice region who fell victim to scammers for the second time. The fraudsters convinced him that his bank account was in danger.
"Following a conversation with the scammer, the man downloaded applications to his mobile phone according to his instructions, which gave foreigners access to his device, and he also provided login credentials for online banking. Subsequently, a series of more than seven payments totalling approximately 1,500,000 crowns left his account," said police spokeswoman Lenka Krausová.
The scenario mirrors hundreds of previously documented cases. The perpetrators most often pose as fake police officers, bankers or investors and rely on strong psychological pressure.
Human emotions as the main weapon
"They attack with lengthy telephone calls, generate strong psychological pressure and pretend to be a collaboration between fake bankers and police officers. Bank customers are the weakest link in the entire chain, and scammers are well aware of this," explained Zdeňka Hildová, director of ČBA Educa.
Emotional manipulation is also evident in a new type of fraud that Czech security experts have named the "Mexican scam". Attackers contact parents, claiming their child has caused a car accident with fatal consequences – and that imprisonment can be averted by paying a high bail.
"One innovation we have encountered is what we call the 'Mexican scam'. This is a situation where attackers approach customers with a story that their child caused a car accident in which someone died. However, if they send a high bail, the child will not go to prison," explained Petr Zíma, cybersecurity manager at Česká spořitelna.
AI increases credibility of fraudulent messages
Fake e-mails, SMS messages, WhatsApp messages and forged websites are now significantly more convincing thanks to artificial intelligence. AI also makes it possible to create so-called deepfake videos in which stolen identities of celebrities promote fictitious investment opportunities.
"Attackers are increasingly targeting people directly. The greatest weakness today is not technology, but human behaviour. Fraudsters try to manipulate victims, create a sense of urgency or pose as authority figures to persuade them to give them access to their money," noted Zíma.
The youngest generation most vulnerable
Although seniors have traditionally been considered the primary target group of fraudsters, the data tells a different story. According to the cybersecurity index, the most at-risk people are those aged 18 to 34. Their results reveal specific gaps: only 56 per cent of young people use a strong password for online banking, whilst this is the case for 62 per cent of the general population. Unique passwords for different services are used by only one in five young people, compared with 31 per cent across the entire population.
"This is also because older people do not trust the online environment as much and prefer to verify everything several times. Cyber security is not a question of age or savings, but primarily of our habits, the ability to recognise risk and behave carefully. It is not enough to set a secure password or antivirus programme once, but to remain vigilant every day, because anyone can become a victim of an attack," noted Michal Straka, financial market specialist at the Ipsos agency.
Scams are part of everyday online life
According to the cybersecurity index, 73 per cent of Czechs have personal experience with a cyber attack or attempted attack. Compared with last year's 77 per cent, this is a slight decline, but fraudulent messages remain a common part of the digital environment. Approximately two-fifths of respondents have personally encountered e-mails promising a prize, inheritance or parcel. More than one-third have witnessed scams via SMS or chat applications, and the same proportion of people have encountered attackers on social media.
Statistics over the past several years show a marked increase in both the number of attacks and the total sums stolen:
| Year | Number of attacks | Protected amount | Stolen | Average damage | |-----|-------------|-------------------|----------|----------------| | 2023 | 48,452 | — | 1 bn. CZK | 20,741 CZK | | 2024 | 65,774 | 4.5 bn. CZK | 1.1 bn. CZK | 16,170 CZK | | 2025 | 68,026 | 7.5 bn. CZK | 1.5 bn. CZK | 21,903 CZK | | 2026 | 75,637 | 9.6 bn. CZK | 2.2 bn. CZK | 29,266 CZK |
Awareness alone is not enough
"Each of us plays several roles – we are parents, employees, bank customers or social media users. And attackers are able to exploit each of these to their advantage. With growing dependence on digital services, awareness and education alone are no longer sufficient. A basic level of protection should therefore be a matter of course, not a choice. Otherwise, the question of whether we will lose our money changes to a question of when it will happen," concluded Michal Března from ESET Corporate Solutions.
Experts recommend using a different, sufficiently strong password for each service, enabling two-factor authentication not only for banking but also for e-mail and other key accounts, not opening suspicious attachments and links, and regularly monitoring security alerts from banks and operating systems.
Source: Deník.cz