Beyond the $108.8 billion annual U.S. cost of spam, a more malicious type of spam, phishing, has its own set of costs. In 2009, phishing is projected to cost the U.S. economy over $8.4 billion annually, $2.6 billion of which will be non-monetary and $5.8 billion in direct monetary losses. To give you an idea of the growth of this problem, 2007 direct financial losses due to phishing only amounted to $3 billion. Over the past three years, more than 2,000 brands across 30 countries have been harmed in order to defraud even the most cautious citizens educated about phishing.

The growing severity of phishing attacks and average volume of emails consumers and employees receive are both impetus for a more effective method of identifying trustworthy (and untrustworthy) emails. 

Monetary Cost

This year, the projected financial cost of phishing is at least $5.8 billion, up from $3.2 billion lost by 6 million adults (or 3.3% of phishing email recipients) in 2007. The number of phishing victims in 2007 rose drastically from 2.3 million (or 2.3% of phishing email recipients) in the prior year. The average loss per successful phishing attack was $886 in 2007. In 2008, phishing activity averaged around 1 in 244.9 (0.41%) emails. A total of 124 million U.S. online adults received or believe they’ve received a phishing email in 2007 with an average of 80 phishing attempts per online adult annually. Our research indicates that the volume of phishing averaged .53% between 2007 and 2008, and has remained relatively constant despite technological and enforcement efforts

Non-Monetary Corporate Cost

As a result of the 3.6 million reported annual phishing cases, at least $800 million in direct employee time is lost in handling claims, conducting investigations, and reimbursing victims. This estimate does not include the cost of prosecutions or other enforcement measures.

Non-Monetary Consumer Cost

The total annual non-monetary consumer cost of phishing is estimated at $1.8 billion. Of the 3.6 million annual email fraud cases, roughly 85% incurred minor non-monetary costs, totaling roughly $450 million in lost time. The remaining $1.35 billion annual cost is generated by 15% of the cases incurring significant non-monetary costs. Losses are due to one or more of the following in each case:

• denied credit or other financial service;
• lost time to resolve problems;
• debt collector or creditor harassment;
• criminal investigation, arrest, and conviction;
• civil suits filed or judgment entered;
• denied employment or job loss.

Assuming a modest increase in fraud reports since 2002, this figure is likely to be much higher today.