File media-photo courtesy © Microsoft
Fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated and more companies and individuals seem to falling into traps. To provide an overview of the fraud process and its actors Experian has issued a ‘future of fraud report’. For several years Experian has announced the top fraud and cyber threats facing businesses and consumers.
Looking through the report, the five key threats are:
Buy Now, Pay Never
The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) space has grown significantly, with BNPL users in the U.S. growing by more than 300 percent per year since 2018, reaching 45 million active users in 2021 who are spending more than $20.8 billion. Without the right identity verification and fraud mitigation tools in place, fraudsters will take advantage of some BNPL companies and consumers in 2022.
From the report, Experian predicts BNPL lenders will see an uptick in two types of fraud: identity theft and synthetic identity fraud, when a fraudster uses a combination of real and fake information to create an entirely new identity. This could result in significant losses for BNPL lenders.
Cryptocurrency Scams
Digital currencies, such as cryptocurrency, have become more conventional and scammers have caught on quickly. According to the U.S. FTC, investment cryptocurrency scam reports have skyrocketed, with nearly 7,000 people reporting losses totaling more than $80 million from October 2020 to March 2021.
In 2022, the report indicates that Experian predicts that…
