The Global Fraud Index 2024 analyzes 103 countries to offer a complete overview of the risk of fraud and how prepared the country is to access the necessary KYC/AML services. The Index consists of four pillars: fraud rate, resource accessibility, government intervention, and economic health. We have adapted a traditional hypothesis called ‘The Fraud Triangle’, identifying the rate of fraud to correlate with pressure, opportunity, and rationalization.

The indicators for each of our four pillars were chosen based on relevance, public availability, date of the data’s publication, and country coverage. Our methodology will be an "expert weighting scheme" where the weighting of our indicators and pillars is reviewed by internal Sumsub experts using their in-depth knowledge and expertise.

Data collection for the Global Fraud Index was completed on 12 September 2024 and does not reflect developments after that date. The data consists of 103 countries with countries being removed either following the FATF blacklist and FATF greylist, bar South Africa, or due to incomplete data using our indicators. Certain countries, such as Afghanistan, have been excluded from the Index due to geopolitical instability, which makes it difficult to gather reliable and consistent data.

We assess fraudulent activity based on the target country, rather than the origin of the fraud, to better align with metrics of governmental intervention. This means countries like the United States, which see a high number of fraud attempts, but have stronger regulatory frameworks, will rank lower on the list but still require significant attention.

Although the majority of our data is from 2023 and 2024, a few indicators rely on slightly older data. This does not significantly impact the results, as metrics such as e-government development and government effectiveness typically evolve gradually over several years, showing minimal short-term fluctuations.