Digital fraud is a widespread problem, with fraud losses totaling more than $1.45 trillion annually around the globe.
A fraud attack against a bank or business occurred every two minutes on average in 2019, for a total of 59,627 attacks that year. What’s more, these figures do not take into account the innumerable schemes launched against individuals.
The pandemic has only exacerbated the fraud threat as bad actors exploit economic uncertainties to scam individuals from all walks of life. One especially popular method of digital attack is authorized push payment (APP) fraud, which sees bad actors impersonating trusted merchants or officials and demanding payment from victims for goods or services. Fraudsters perpetrating APP schemes are especially keen on tricking their victims into using real-time rails, as funds sent using these systems are irrevocable and thus cannot be clawed back once scams are uncovered.
In the November edition of the Digital Fraud Tracker®, PYMNTS explores the latest in fraud prevention, including the expanding threat of APP fraud, new cybercrime schemes against businesses, banks and government agencies, and the growing use of data analytics and pattern recognition to identify and counter digital schemes.