Digital fraud in Peru 2026: three in four Peruvians suffered fraud attempts
An Experian and Edelman Intelligence report reveals that 74% of Peruvians received digital fraud attempts in the past year, the highest figure in the region.
Peru leads region in digital fraud attempts, according to 2026 report
Nearly three in four Peruvians received at least one digital fraud attempt during the past year, according to a report by Experian together with Edelman Intelligence released in July 2026. This is reported by peruinforma.com, which gathered data from a survey applied in five Latin American markets. The 74% figure recorded in Peru surpasses Mexico, Colombia and Chile, and places the country as the most affected of those analysed.
The figure that follows gives more cause for concern: almost half of those who received an attempt ended up becoming a victim. One in two Peruvians exposed lost money, personal data or both.
Specific cases and volume of threats
In Lambayeque a fake application circulated that mimicked the 5G service of a well-known operator; other users reported the cloning of their WhatsApp. In both scenarios losses exceeded S/ 20,000 in a single transaction, according to local media. These are not isolated incidents: the pattern repeats week after week in different cities and with different methods.
A study detected more than 350,000 digital threats in Peru in just the first months of 2026, belonging to 1,337 different malware families. Nearly 45% of those detections corresponded to social engineering campaigns: phishing, malicious scripts and pages that copy real services. Fake QR codes, infected PDF files and manipulated Office documents complete the arsenal. Roughly 10% of attacks exploit vulnerabilities known since 2017, indicating that many users continue operating with unpatched systems.
Artificial intelligence raises the level of sophistication
Messages with spelling errors, previously easy to identify, have given way to more elaborate fraud. Experian's Future of Fraud Forecast 2026 report warns that criminals are exploiting automation and digital interconnectedness to launch attacks that are harder to detect. Audio that mimics the voice of a family member, chatbots that present themselves as banking advisers and grammatically flawless text are now part of the current arsenal.
As a result, nine in ten people in Lima and Callao expressed concern about these threats, according to the data gathered. When the voice on the other end of the telephone sounds identical to that of a son or boss, authorities recommend verifying identity through a different channel before making any transfer.
Differences by age and place of residence
The available data show clear differences according to user profile. Those who use digital services more frequently—remote work, online shopping, mobile payments—offer more entry points to attackers. Older adults, less accustomed to checking suspicious senders, take longer to identify that something is wrong.
Public networks represent another risk vector that is rarely mentioned: checking bank balance from the free wifi in a café or making an online purchase from an unsecured network exposes data that circulates unencrypted.
Legal framework and institutional response
Peru has Law 30096 on Cybercrime, in force for over a decade. However, the speed at which new methods evolve tends to outpace the capacity of the judicial system to respond. The Specialised Cybercrime Prosecutor's Office reported that between January and September 2025, more than 68% of complaints of computer crimes corresponded to fraud.
The Superintendence of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds (SBS) warned in July 2026 about the increase in complaints for identity theft and unauthorised banking operations. Financial entities strengthened their verification systems, although authorities insist that the first line of defence remains the user themselves.
Preventive habits as first barrier
Most of these attacks depend on a single oversight, not on a technical vulnerability that cannot be corrected. Among the measures recommended by specialists are verifying the identity of the sender before clicking on any link, not entering banking credentials from public networks and keeping operating systems updated.
"The best defence against digital fraud is not the most expensive technology, but the simple habit of being suspicious before clicking," notes the Experian report.
Digital fraud in Peru will continue to grow in parallel with the expansion of the country's digital life. Specialists agree that the gap between being an easy target and one that is better protected comes down, in most cases, to habits sustained over time and the use of tools already available to any user.
Source: Google News PE — Crime