In the United Kingdom, remote purchase fraud has increased by over 150 percent, as criminals have used increasingly complex tactics to take advantage of consumers’ trust. Consumer reports of scams cases rose by 12%, surpassing 3.3 million. Put simply, scammers are getting better at tricking your customers into sharing their OTPs. We believe this dangerous trend is hurrying the day when financial fraud can become widespread. Over the past year, this has added to an estimated £1.2 billion loss.
Scammers have recently started using stolen card information to enroll victims’ bank cards into digital wallets on their own mobile devices. Once they do get access, they are able to shop online as well as in traditional retail environments with these cards. Remote purchase fraud, the largest category of reported cases, highlights the importance of consumers staying on guard against potential scams.
Data breaches at third-party retailers have become a key catalyst of this kind of fraud. This is because criminals fully exploit breaches, sometimes using information gained from the breach for months or even years after that initial breach. As UK Finance noted, “The data stolen from a breach can be used for months or even years after the incident. Bad actors frequently take advantage of publicity from data breaches to phish for sensitive financial information.
The ways that scammers have gotten more sophisticated. One-time passcodes are frequently sent to victims, and criminals use those to access online accounts. This has resulted in a historic increase in hacked credentials. According to UK Finance, the scale of these crimes has skyrocketed.
There was a huge 22% rise in crime where fraudsters shop with stolen information last year. This nationwide trend demonstrates that criminals are hitting online transactions hard. Victims’ information is being used to make purchases in store.
Lenders such as banks and credit unions are experiencing a growing tide of customers fooled into giving up their online banking login credentials. This increase underscores the deepening peril of remote purchase fraud. Today, criminals are increasingly choosing to use digital wallets to hold bank cards that they’ve stolen. In turn, this trend increases the difficulty for not only law enforcement, but the financial institutions.
We encourage consumers to be more vigilant than ever in protecting their personal data. Being aware of potential scams and being vigilant in monitoring activity in your accounts can help avoid risks associated with remote purchase fraud.