The value of tokenization — where sensitive information is replaced by unique algorithmically generated numbers and letters — has gained wide acknowledgement in commerce.
James Mirfin, Visa’s global head of Risk and Identity Solutions, told PYMNTS that fraudsters are perking up to tokenization’s potential to be used for illicit purposes.
Bad actors are illegitimately gaining access to, and provisioning, those tokens through ruses tied to social engineering and other scams as they lure issuers to grant them the tokens.
The costs are considerable: Visa has estimated that fraud losses reached an estimated $450 million globally in 2022 alone as fraudsters have used the tokens for subsequent transactions.