TransUnion Enhances Document Verification Solution as New Research Finds Identity Fraud at Center of Many Digital COVID-19 Sc...
July 21 2020 - 9:00AM
New research from TransUnion’s (NYSE: TRU) Consumer Financial
Hardship studies found that phishing is the top digital fraud
scheme worldwide related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among consumers
reporting being targeted with digital COVID-19 schemes globally,
27% said they were hit with pandemic-themed phishing scams. To help
prevent identity fraud that can result from phishing, TransUnion
announced today new enhancements to its Document Verification
solution.
“From the impacts of phishing and other well documented COVID-19
scams like unemployment fraud, it’s clear that fraudsters have the
data and increasing opportunities to create synthetic identities
and utilize stolen identities,” said Shai Cohen, senior vice
president of Global Fraud & Identity Solutions at TransUnion.
“Identity fraud is a primary way fraudsters leverage stolen
consumer data from phishing and other social engineering schemes.
It can have long-term impacts for consumers such as the compromise
of multiple online accounts and bringing down credit scores, which
we anticipate will increase during pandemic reconstruction.”
To better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on consumers,
TransUnion surveyed 7,384 adults in Canada, Colombia, Hong Kong,
South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. between June 30 and July 6,
2020. It asked the consumers if they had been targeted by digital
COVID-19 fraud and if so, which digital fraud scheme(s) related to
COVID-19 were they targeted with. Globally, 32% said they had been
targeted by digital fraud related to COVID-19 with the below being
the top types of COVID-19 fraud they faced:
Top Global Online COVID-19 Scams
Targeting Consumers
Rankings |
Percentage Hit by SchemeAmong Those
Targeted by Digital COVID-19 Fraud |
- Phishing
|
27% |
|
- Third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail
websites
|
21% |
|
- Charity and fundraising scam
|
19% |
|
- Unemployment scam
|
18% |
|
- Fraudulent COVID-19 vaccines, cures, tests, and
PPE
|
15% |
|
- Fake insurance
|
15% |
|
- Shipping fraud
|
14% |
|
- Identity theft
|
14% |
|
- Stolen credit card or fraudulent charges
|
13% |
|
- Stimulus check scam
|
12% |
|
- Someone changing your personal or account
information via a call center
|
12% |
|
- Account taken over
|
11% |
|
Online COVID-19 Scams Targeting Consumers
by Country
Country |
Top Fraud Type |
Percent Targeted by All Digital COVID-19
Fraud |
Canada |
Phishing |
30% |
|
Colombia |
Third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail websites |
25% |
|
Hong Kong |
Phishing |
37% |
|
South Africa |
Unemployment scam |
38% |
|
U.K. |
Phishing |
30% |
|
U.S. |
Phishing |
31% |
|
“Although the schemes may vary by country, a new approach to
identity verification that supplements traditional authentication
methods is needed to defend against their impact,” said Cohen. “The
key is creating a friction-right experience where consumers are
confident they are dealing with a legitimate organization or
business.”
TransUnion Enhancement to Combat Identity Fraud
With fake identities increasingly available through phishing
attacks and other methods, TransUnion recently expanded the global
reach of its Document Verification solution. Document Verification
confirms a consumer’s identity in faceless and in-person channels
by validating a government-issued identification document like a
passport or driver’s license.
“With successful phishing attacks that have increased during the
pandemic, data breaches and social media sharing, consumers should
assume their data is on the dark web,” said Bala Kumar, vice
president of product management, Global Fraud & Identity
Solutions at TransUnion. “Despite these threats, consumers expect
that organizations will protect their identities, and enable secure
but still convenient digital experiences. TransUnion’s Document
Verification solution provides comprehensive consumer friendly
identity verification by triangulating the validity of the
document, danger of the device used to capture the document and
risk associated with the identity on the document.”
Document Verification is part of IDVision® with iovation®,
TransUnion’s flagship identity verification, consumer
authentication and fraud prevention solution suite which unites
personal and digital data into one of the most comprehensive data
identity platforms in the world. As part of the IDVision with
iovation suite, Document Verification adds strong verification of
government IDs to existing capabilities that can validate a
consumer by leveraging TransUnion’s comprehensive intelligence
about consumer records, device behavior, and if fraud has
previously been associated with a person or device.
“Given the digital transformation that’s been accelerated by the
recent pandemic, it’s more important than ever to secure trust in
faceless channels with a simple consumer experience by reducing the
need for businesses to manually review transactions,” said Shirley
Inscoe, senior analyst at technology analyst firm Aite Group.
TransUnion’s Document Verification solution verifies consumers
who submit a picture of a government-issued identification
document. The solution provides organizations additional
confirmation of a consumer identity during account origination and
subsequent high-risk transactions.
Document Verification ensures that a government issued
identification is genuine by:
- Validating the expiration date, and if the identification
document is fake, lost, stolen or tampered with
- Confirming the personally identifiable information (PII) in the
identification document matches against TransUnion’s data identity
of the consumer like an address and flagging any discrepancies
- Enabling real-time fraud risk checks on the device used to
capture the document
- In some markets, verifying an ID matches against a government’s
database of issued IDs.
The solution also provides an optional feature that compares a
selfie the consumer captures to the photo on their identification
document. Document Verification can be deployed via TransUnion
hosted pages enabling rapid deployment which is critical with the
accelerated shift to digital channels.
For more details about TransUnion’s Document Verification
solution, go here. To download TransUnion’s Consumer Hardship
Studies, go here. For more details around TransUnion’s digital
fraud findings during the COVID-19 pandemic, go here.
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 & Identity Solutions unite both
consumer and device identities to detect threats across markets
while ensuring friction-right user experiences. The solutions, all
part of the IDVision with iovation 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 |
Dave
Blumberg |
|
TransUnion |
|
|
E-mail |
david.blumberg@transunion.com |
|
|
Telephone |
312-972-6646 |
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