Global digital fraud attempts figures rise 149%

As more consumers go online for banking and other financial transactions, new research from TransUnion has found that fraudsters are ramping up their efforts in the financial services industry. When comparing the last four months of 2020 (and the first four months of 2021 the company found the percentage of suspected digital fraud attempts in financial services increased by 149%.

Across industries, the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts globally rose 24% when comparing the first four months of 2021 with the last four months of 2020.

The company monitors digital fraud attempts reported by businesses in varied industries such as gambling, gaming, financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail and telecommunications, among others.

John Cannon, Managing Director of Fraud and ID at TransUnion said “Incidents of attempted fraud are on the rise internationally, with financial services seeing a particularly dramatic jump. Fraudsters have been quick to target a sector which has seen online transactions surge over the last year due to the pandemic.”

“Financial services organisations are, however, implementing fraud prevention solutions with an encouraging degree of success and our recent survey of UK consumers found more than one in 10 (12%) had been protected by their bank from losing money after falling victim to a scam, but this global research emphasises the huge scale of the task. As we continue to recover from the uncertainty seen over the last year, businesses must ensure they are continually reviewing and updating their fraud prevention strategies to help them deliver secure and seamless customer journeys.”

The pandemic has accelerated the move towards digital financial transactions, with high street banks reporting a huge increase, which is unsurprising in light of repeated lockdowns and social distancing. This shift in behaviour has also led to growth for online-only banks and apps with nearly a third (32%) of consumers in the UK who have changed their current account since March 2020 opting for an online-only provider.

However, despite this growth in digital-first finance, concerns over security remain a major deterrent to consumers in the UK, with 35% of those who would not consider an online-only bank or app saying it was due to fears over digital fraud.

Identity theft is defined as the top type of digital fraud in financial services, as the consumer using a stolen identity to commit fraud with the victim being a real person. The second and third most reported type of digital fraud by TransUnion financial services customers are first-party application fraud and account takeover, respectively.

First-party application fraud is when a consumer refuses to repay legitimately incurred debts and/or falsely claims to be a victim of identity fraud to evade debt. Account takeover is when someone other than the owner of an account uses the account without permission, indicating that the account has been maliciously compromised.

Sam Welch, Director of banking at TransUnion said: “What we’re seeing demonstrated on an international scale is the agility used by fraudsters to target industries which are registering a boom in transactional activity. For finance providers in the UK, it’s critical to keep up with the ever-evolving tactics used by fraudsters to obtain and misuse customer and company information. An adaptable fraud prevention strategy with a multi-layered approach is crucial to managing these threats, which show no signs of abating in the near future.”

Top Suspected Digital Fraud Rate Attempt Increases and Declines by Industry