One Year after COVID-19, New TransUnion Research Shows Digital Fraud Attempts Against Businesses Have Increased by 46%
March 23 2021 - 8:00AM
TransUnion’s (NYSE: TRU) latest quarterly analysis of global online
fraud trends found that since the COVID-19 pandemic began,
fraudsters are increasing their rate of digital schemes against
businesses. In addition, TransUnion’s recent Global Consumer Pulse
Study found that more than one in three global consumers have
recently been targeted by digital fraud related to COVID-19.
TransUnion came to its conclusions about fraud against
businesses based on intelligence from billions of transactions and
more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in its flagship
identity proofing, risk-based authentication and fraud analytics
solution suite – TransUnion TruValidate™.
It found the percent of suspected fraudulent digital transaction
attempts1 against businesses worldwide increased 46% when comparing
the following two periods: Period #1 (March 11, 2019 and March 10,
2020); Period #2 (March 11, 2020 -- when the World Health
Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic -- and March 10,
2021). In the U.S., this percentage increased 22% in the same
timeframe.
“Fraudsters are always looking to take advantage of significant
world events. The COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding rapid
digital acceleration brought about by stay-at-home orders is a
global event unrivaled in the online age,” said Shai Cohen, senior
vice president of Global Fraud Solutions at TransUnion. “By
analyzing billions of transactions we screened for fraud indicators
over the past year, it has become clear that the war against the
virus has also brought about a war against digital fraud.”
Globally across industries, TransUnion found the countries with
the highest rate of suspected fraudulent digital transactions
during the pandemic (from March 11, 2020 to March 10, 2021) were:
1) the Seychelles, 2) Kazakhstan and 3) Turkmenistan. In the U.S.
overall during that same time period, TransUnion found the cities
with the highest percent of suspected fraudulent transactions were:
1) Tempe, Ariz. 2) Hamtramck, Mich. and 3) Colonial Park, Pa.
Consumers Targeted By COVID-19 Schemes
TransUnion’s Global Consumer Pulse Study also found that as of
March 16, 2021 the 36% of consumers who said they are being
targeted by digital fraud related to COVID-19 in the last three
months is higher than approximately one year ago. In April 2020,
29% said they had been targeted by digital fraud related to
COVID-19. In the U.S., this percentage increased from 26% to 38% in
the same timeframe.
Gen Z, those born 1995 to 2002, is currently the most targeted
out of any generation at 42%. They are followed by Millennials
(37%). Similarities were observed in the U.S. where Gen Z was most
targeted at 53% followed by Millennials at 40%.
“TransUnion documented a 21% increase in reported phishing
attacks among consumers who were globally targeted with
COVID-19-related digital fraud just from November 2020 to
recently,” said Melissa Gaddis, senior director of customer
success, Global Fraud Solutions at TransUnion. “This revelation
shows just how essential acquiring personal credentials are for
carrying out any type of digital fraud. Consumers must be vigilant
and businesses should assume all consumer information is available
on the dark web and have alternatives to traditional password
verification in place.”
Consumers can learn how to protect themselves from fraud and
identity theft with the TransUnion Fraud Victim Bill of Rights.
Examining Fraud Types and Their Impact on
Industries
TransUnion analyzed the below industries for a change in the
percent of suspected digital fraud attempts against them, comparing
the periods of March 11, 2019-March 10, 2020 and March 11,
2020-March 10, 2021.
Suspected Digital Fraud Attempt Rate
Post-Pandemic Declaration
Industry |
Suspected FraudChange |
Top Type of Fraud |
Top Country for SuspectedFraud Origination |
Telecommunications |
57.52% |
Credit Card Fraud |
Syria |
Financial Services |
57.49% |
Identity Theft |
The Seychelles |
Gambling |
54.81% |
Policy/LicenseAgreement Violations |
Sri Lanka |
Gaming |
48.40% |
Gold Farming |
Seychelles |
Retail |
38.71% |
Promotion Abuse |
Seychelles |
Insurance |
32.52% |
Ghost Broking |
Pakistan |
Travel & Leisure |
29.68% |
Credit Card Fraud |
Venezuela |
Logistics |
4.87% |
Shipping Fraud |
Egypt |
Communities (online dating,forums, etc.) |
-11.10% |
ProfileMisrepresentation |
Cote d'Ivoire |
Through the TruValidate solution, TransUnion documented a 19%
growth in transactions among its global iGaming customers from 2019
to 2020, and recently researched its fraud impact in a special
report. It determined that its online gambling customers
experienced a 9% increase in the rate of suspected fraud when
comparing 2019 to 2020 among the 576 million iGaming transactions
TransUnion analyzed for risk indicators last year.
Despite it being one of the hottest growing industries,
TransUnion observed a decrease in the iGaming mobile transaction
rate for the first time since at least 2016. However, iGaming on
mobile devices is still much higher than desktops with the percent
of online gambling transactions coming from mobile devices at
69%.
“We believe mobile online gambling transactions dipped because
so many people used their desktops while working from home during
the pandemic. However, we expect the long-term impact of mobile to
continue to be paramount for business success,” said Gaddis.
“Mobile devices will be key to providing a seamless way for online
gamblers to transact and businesses to assess risk with
biometric-driven multifactor authentication.”
For more details about the above findings, visit this blog
post.
About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)TransUnion is a
global information and insights company that makes trust possible
in the modern economy. We do this by providing a comprehensive
picture of each person so they can be reliably and safely
represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and
consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We
call this Information for Good.®
TransUnion Global Fraud Solutions unite both consumer and device
identities to detect threats across markets while ensuring
friction-right user experiences. The solutions, all part of the
TruValidate suite, fuse traditional data science with machine
learning to provide businesses unique insights about consumer
transactions, safeguarding tens of millions of transactions each
day.
A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five
continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic
opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for
hundreds of millions of
people.http://www.transunion.com/business
Contact |
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Dave Blumberg |
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TransUnion |
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E-mail |
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david.blumberg@transunion.com |
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Telephone |
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312-972-6646 |
1 The percent or rate of suspected fraudulent digital
transaction attempts are those that TransUnion’s customers either
denied or reviewed due to fraudulent indicators compared to all
transactions it assessed for fraud
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