Overview
According to the US consumer credit agency TransUnion, the number of cases of digital data fraud increased by as much as 800% in 2021. Recently, an expanded annual report of the company on such abuses was published. It says that the fastest growing type of digital fraud is a scammed delivery. For the period 2019-2021 cases of such scams have increased by 1500% which is partly due to an increase in the number of online transactions due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Delivery fraud is another type of cybercrime committed by sellers who receive money for the goods they sell but do not deliver them. Such fraudsters also include buyers who incorrectly indicate their address in order to receive the goods.
Since 2019, the use of digital resources has increased dramatically. As a result, the number of attempts of appropriate types of fraud worldwide grew up almost 10% in 2020-21. The most frequent of these include violations in the field of business information, as well as various types of phishing.
Account hijacking and other digital scams
Today, according to surveys, about 50% of all consumers carry out operations related to business and finance online. This situation has led to an increase in requirements for digital resources in terms of safety and protection from all kinds of abuse.
According to the latest data, a particularly noticeable increase in the activity of fraudsters was observed in 2020-2021.
Growth of the most common categories:
● delivery – 780,5%;
● theft of business identifiers – 113,8%;
● theft of users’ personal information, including by phishing – 104,8%;
● first-person fraud with false information about oneself – 55,8%;
● extortion – 53,9%;
● theft of personal information – 26,4%;
● first-person fraud associated with apps – 19,3%;
● theft of other people-s accounts – 6,4%.
According to experts, among the surest ways to protect against digital fraudsters is improving the user authentication system, as well as increasing the security and efficiency of the programs involved in identification. Such measures help companies regain the trust of users by improving protection against fraudsters. In particular, an excellent way to protect against misconduct is a comprehensive verification of identity using modern Kycaid technology.
In what areas the fraudsters are most active?
Among the areas that are most attractive to cybercriminals today are computer games, tourism and entertainment. There are also many types of delivery-related abuse. Today, various spheres of business are being attacked by fraudsters. In the United States, for example, cybercrime in computer games grew in 2021. The indicator was 60,3%. In addition, there was an increase in cases of fraud in the field of recreation and tourism (58,4%), as well as information (29,5%). These areas were leaders in the growth of violations in the digital space.
The situation with money transactions was no less serious. The growth of fraud in this field was 27,2% this year, which is less than the global figure of 33,5%. The lowest was the annual trend in the insurance sector. There is an 11,1% increase in fraud.
Thus, finance, leisure and tourism are fields of particular interest to digital criminals around the world. These industries are seeing the fastest increase in cybercrime attempts. This trend was particularly pronounced during the post-COVID revival of the tourism industry. The number of all kinds of abuse in travel and entertainment grew by 68,4% per year. And a significant part of them was credit card fraud. Most often, fraudsters used counterfeit or stolen cards to make purchases or fictitious payments.
Digital Fraud Prevention Efforts
Financial crimes are the most common. In addition, their number has increased by as much as 33,5% in 2021, which creates more and more threats for both large corporations and individual entrepreneurs.
The idea is that the stolen account is used by an attacker to carry out fictitious transactions and illegal operations. To avoid such violations, organizations seek to strengthen their own cyber security, which implies maximum protection of digital banking.
It’s worth noting that, despite the efforts made, fraud continues to adversely affect many aspects of the business. Cybercriminals are improving their technology. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to provide increased protection to the industries leading to the number of violations in the digital sphere. According to Kycaid Limited experts, timely detection of cybercrime will help improve customer service, as well as secure all ongoing financial transactions. This statement is entirely based on recent observations of fraudulent activity. In total, more than 40 thousand Internet resources and individual programs have been analyzed, among which personal identification and authentication services occupy a special place.
As a result, the Kycaid system provided a powerful help in detecting fraudulent activity, resulting in wrongful attempts being either rejected or subjected to in-depth inspection. Such efforts made it possible to significantly secure all financial transactions. Clients have received powerful protection against the loss of their funds, and the number of fraudulent transactions has decreased significantly.