Small businesses in the United States are paying $131 billion annually as a result of fraud, scams, and ransomware, according to a recent survey conducted for Public Private Strategies Institute (PPSI), an independent research and education organization.
The survey of more than 500 small-business owners discovered 72 percent of small businesses were hit by fraud, scams or ransomware in the last year.
“When nearly three in four small businesses experience fraud or ransomware in a single year,
this is no longer an isolated risk,” Tammy Halevy, PPSI project Reimagine Main Street executive director, said. “It has become a routine cost of doing business. At that scale, fraud functions like a hidden tax on entrepreneurship. That’s money that should be going toward hiring, innovation, and growth, not to criminals.”
Other survey results include:
The most common attacks were credit card/payment fraud and email phishing, costing the average affected businesses, nearly $60,000 for payment fraud and more than $90,000 for email
compromise.
The majority of owners, 71 percent, fear artificial intelligence will make attacks more common, yet only 44 percent feel prepared to respond to attacks.
Of those who have experienced attacks, 76 percent said AI was used in their attacks.