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Inside the Growing Threat of Fraud-as-a-Service

  • August 7, 2025
what is fraud-as-a-service

Cybercrime is now being packaged and sold as a solution for fraudsters to buy. Called Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS), this practice is making it easier than ever for bad actors to launch large-scale fraud campaigns without the technical know-how. From phishing scams to mobile app clones and click fraud, FaaS is empowering criminals in a new way. 

This article dives into what Fraud-as-a-Service is, how it works, and what businesses can do to defend against it.

Read more: What is click fraud?

🚨Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. We’re sharing it to raise awareness about the rising threat of Fraud-as-a-Service and the need for proactive fraud prevention.

What is Fraud-as-a-Service?

Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS) is a cybercrime business model where fraudsters sell tools and services that aid bad actors in committing fraud, in exchange for payment. FaaS providers offer everything from compromise kits to app cloners, and even 24/7 customer service to their clients.

The model is very similar to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) where a business offers you tools to boost operational efficiency, improve marketing, and generally make more money. Except in this case, the business is a cybercrime outfit, and it grows by defrauding more people.

How does Fraud-as-a-Service work?

FaaS platforms give criminals the infrastructure, automation, and scale they need to carry out widespread fraud with minimal effort. Here’s how it typically works:

how fraud-as-a-service works FaaS
  • Access a FaaS platform: Fraudsters begin by joining a Fraud-as-a-Service platform, often via dark web forums or encrypted messaging apps.
  • Buy spoofing or phishing kits: Next, users purchase pre-built fraud kits that include phishing page templates, spoofed login portals, or basic malware. These kits are designed for ease of use, enabling even non-technical users to launch scams at scale.
  • Launch the scam: With tools in hand, attackers deploy phishing campaigns, impersonation schemes, or spoofed calls. 
  • Extract credentials or sensitive data: Victims are tricked into handing over bank details, login credentials, or personal information. Since many FaaS tools mimic trusted brands or internal communication channels, they have high success rates, especially when combined with social engineering.
  • Monetize the stolen data via mules or crypto: Finally, the stolen information is turned into profit. FaaS platforms may offer direct access to mule accounts or laundering services, allowing scammers to cash out quickly, often through crypto.
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What does Fraud-as-a-Service include?

FaaS platforms may offer a wide range of tools and products for both novice and experienced criminals. Here are some of them:

  • Fraudulent services: These include money laundering, account take over, credit card fraud, and even mule account services. The providers do all the “heavy lifting” allowing less experienced fraudsters to perpetuate more sophisticated schemes.
  • Phishing kits: Pre-made phishing kits give fraudsters plug-and-play templates that copy login pages for banks, ecommerce platforms, or social media sites. They may be bundled with hosting tools, form handlers and other resources that make mass credential theft easy.
  • Business Email Compromise (BEC) kits: BEC kits help attackers spoof corporate identities and hijack internal email threads to trick employees into making unauthorized payments or sharing sensitive data. 
  • Botnets: Botnets are networks of hijacked devices that can be rented out to execute PPC click fraud, credential stuffing, or Denial-of-Service Attacks. FaaS operators offer them as a service, allowing buyers to launch high-volume operations without owning the infrastructure.
  • App cloners: These tools create fake versions of real apps to harvest credentials, payment info, or push malware. They may be disguised  as updates or giveaways and shared through third-party stores or phishing links.
  • Emulators: Emulators allow fraudsters to mimic thousands of real devices to bypass security filters, ad fraud protections, or geolocation checks. They are often used in mobile fraud to fake app installs, clicks, or user activity.

Read more about domain spoofing and IP spoofing.

Example of Fraud-as-a-Service in action: Russian Coms

Russian Coms was a FaaS platform that fueled large scale impersonation scams from 2021 until its takedown by the UK’s National Crime Agency in August, 2024. 

According to infosecurity, Russian Coms enabled over 1.3 million scam calls using advanced spoofing kits that mimicked phone numbers from banks, telecom providers, and even police departments. 

The service offered tools to manipulate caller ID, script interactions, and harvest sensitive financial data with high scalability potential. Nearly 500,000 unique phone numbers were targeted in the UK alone, with reported losses averaging £9,400 per victim.

How to protect your business against Fraud-as-a-Service

The easier fraud is to execute, the more businesses suffer. We’ve seen this with the new generation of bot farms that use AI and LLMs to create more sophisticated schemes, effortlessly spoof hundreds of websites and defraud businesses of millions.

This means your business could be at risk. Luckily, there are cybersecurity measures you can take to defend against FaaS. These include:

  • Educating your team: Awareness is your first line of defense. Train employees to spot phishing attempts, impersonation scams, and suspicious login activity. Cybersecurity training programs exist and can be significant help in education for your organization.
  • Keeping your software updated: Outdated systems can be a gateway for exploitation. Regularly patching software, browsers, and plugins helps close known vulnerabilities that FaaS actors may target. 
  • Staying on top of security measures: Enable multi-factor authentication, limit user permissions, and audit access logs frequently. The goal is to reduce your attack surface and catch any unusual behavior before it escalates.
  • Using anti-fraud solutions: Invest in tools that actively monitor and block fraudulent activity, especially in areas like advertising, payments, and customer onboarding.

Protect your campaigns from fraud with Fraud Blocker

prevent fake clicks with fraud blocker

While FaaS spans phishing, laundering, and ransomware, one of the fastest-growing segments is ad fraud, which cost advertisers $84 Billion in 2023, and that number is expected to rise to $170 Billion by 2028. 

With fraudsters operating on such a large scale, you need a solution built to identify and block fraudulent activity.

Fraud Blocker works by detecting and blocking invalid traffic in real time, including bots, click farms, and other forms of ad fraud. We use advanced algorithms and IP analysis to identify suspicious behavior before it drains your budget. 

By filtering out fake clicks and impressions, Fraud Blocker helps you preserve ad spend, improve campaign performance, and focus only on reaching real, high-quality audiences.

Start a 7-day free trial and see how much Fraud Blocker can save you.

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