COVID-19 pandemic increases online scam activity: how to protect yourself

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly expanded the use of Internet services by Americans, and scammers decided to take advantage of this. A new TransUnion report showed that since the beginning of March, the activity of fraudsters on the Internet has increased by 11%. Writes about it FOXBusiness.

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“The COVID-19 pandemic has created unique and unprecedented challenges for the financial services industry and heightened the threat level of fraud for many institutions,” said Jason Luckey, executive vice president of financial services at TransUnion. “As financial institutions expand their digital presence to support consumers, it is critical that they make the right decisions to protect the customers who trust them.”

The report said that the increase in fraudulent activity may be associated with an increase in activity against the backdrop of a 250 percent surge in digital transactions since the start of the pandemic.

Identity theft was the most common type of fraud, the victims of which were clients of financial companies, and TransUnion recorded a 23 percent increase in this type of scam.

On the subject: 18 popular online shopping fraud tricks: how to protect yourself

Most often, scammers create fictitious identities by combining the stolen real data of real people and false information with the intention of opening fraudulent accounts.

“One of the most effective ways to reduce this type of fraud is to detect suspicious patterns or attributes during the account opening and verification process. So pay attention to that,” said Shai Cohen, senior vice president of global fraud and identity solutions at TransUnion.

According to the company, online fraud is still a serious problem. According to experts, about $ 1 billion was issued to fictitious individuals in the form of car loans, personal loans or credit cards and still remain outstanding.

18 popular online shopping fraud tricks and how to protect against them can be found in our material.

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