The 7 brands scammers impersonate the most

Fraud comes in many forms, from phone and email “phishing” scams, to AI impersonations, to fake ads and beyond.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that people lost $10 billion to scams in the U.S. last year, with the top fraud category being imposter scams. The type of scam drove $2.7 billion in losses, and refers to fraud in which people pretend to be a trusted person or institution, including their bank, the government, a friend or family member, or a well-known business.

Recognizable and respected companies are an easy way for scammers to gain people’s trust, especially via email, where it’s easy to spoof addresses and logos to appear legitimate. These are the seven companies that were impersonated the most by “phishers” in 2023, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.

7. Amazon

With millions of packages delivered each day to people around the world, Amazon is the seventh-most impersonated company by scammers, with 3.1 million malicious messages including references to the e-commerce giant.

6. DocuSign

The popular electronic-signature collecting site DocuSign was the sixth most spoofed brand used by scammers. Proofpoint found 3.5 million scam messages that mentioned the platform.

5. AOL

Despite being well past its heyday, online service provider AOL remains one of the most commonly mentioned brands in scams. It was used in 4.4 million email phishing attempts.

4. Google

Alphabet-owned Google has been the top search engine for the better part of two decades, with a search engine market share of almost 92% as of February, according to data from Oberlo. Given its recognizable and trusted name, some 6.1 million scam emails mentioned the company.

3. DHL

Logistics giant DHL was the third-most impersonated company by scammers. There were 8.8 million scam emails mentioning the company in 2023.

2. Adobe

Computer software giant Adobe, with its expansive suite of tools and offerings, was mentioned in 9.4 million scam emails, the second-highest of all companies last year, according to Proofpoint.

1.Microsoft

Microsoft was the most abused brand by far. It had a whopping 68 million malicious messages associated with the brand or its products — seven times that of the next-most impersonated company. Of its suite of products, Office 365 was the most abused in malicious emails, with over 20 million email threats using the brand.