Understanding Vishing Across Europe: ScamAI Publishes Transnational Research Report
How do scammers exploit trust, urgency and familiar voices to deceive people? The ScamAI project has explored this question through research across four European countries. The findings, published in the Transnational Report on Vishing Contexts and Scenarios in July 2026, provide a research-based foundation for developing practical cybersecurity training and prevention strategies.
Investigating Vishing Across Europe
As voice phishing (vishing) becomes increasingly sophisticated, understanding the psychological mechanisms behind fraudulent communication is essential. Advances in artificial intelligence, including voice cloning and AI-generated speech, make it more difficult to distinguish legitimate calls from scams.
As part of Work Package 2 (WP2), the ScamAI consortium conducted qualitative research in Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and Türkiye between April and July 2026.
The research involved 65 older adults and 12 expert interviews, bringing together everyday experiences and professional perspectives from cybersecurity, law enforcement, consumer protection, fraud prevention and digital education.
By comparing findings across countries, the partners identified recurring manipulation techniques alongside national differences in how scams are presented and experienced.
Key Findings: Why Vishing Works
The research highlights that vishing is rarely limited to a single telephone call. Fraudsters increasingly combine calls with SMS, messaging applications, emails, fake websites and social media to establish credibility and pressure their targets.
Across the four countries, several psychological mechanisms emerged repeatedly: urgency, fear, authority, emotional responsibility and trust. Scammers exploit these factors to discourage independent verification and push people towards unsafe decisions.
Another important finding concerns the growing unreliability of familiar signals. Local telephone numbers, official-looking messages and even recognisable voices can be manipulated. Consequently, recognising suspicious calls is no longer sufficient protection.
The report therefore emphasises practical behavioural routines: pause, end suspicious interactions, verify information independently, involve trusted people and report attempted fraud.
From Research to Practical Training
A key outcome of WP2 is a structured database containing 24 vishing scenarios, covering situations such as family emergencies, impersonation of authorities, fraudulent payment requests, investment scams and workplace-related attacks.
Each scenario identifies the communication channels, manipulation techniques, credibility factors and protective responses involved.
These findings will directly inform the next stages of ScamAI, particularly the development of blended learning materials, educational videos and AI-supported simulations under WP3. They will also support the Cybersecurity Ambassador Program by providing accessible examples and practical prevention strategies for community-based education.
Strengthening Cybersecurity Through European Cooperation
The transnational approach enables ScamAI to identify manipulation patterns shared across countries while accounting for different cultural, institutional and everyday contexts.
By translating these insights into practical learning resources, the consortium is taking an important step towards its broader objective: helping adults develop lasting cybersecurity habits and respond more confidently to increasingly sophisticated vishing attempts.