Fraud is a constantly evolving field. As technology continues to advance, so do the methods that fraudsters use to commit their crimes. The following article will explore three of the biggest trends in fraud for 2023: phishing attacks, credit card fraud and data breaches. By understanding these trends, you can better protect yourself against them when they occur.
Phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are still one of the most common and effective ways for criminals to gain access to your personal information. While email phishing scams have been around for decades, they’re not the only form of phishing. Phishing can take many forms and use many different types of communication channels.
For example, a common form of phishing is called “spear phishing” where attackers target specific individuals or organizations with highly personalized emails that appear to be from someone you trust. Spear phishers often use information about their targets (such as names, company names, locations) obtained from social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook as well as other sources such as press releases or news articles about people who have left organizations in order to make their messages seem legitimate.
Credit card fraud
- As a retailer, you’re at risk of credit card fraud. The biggest risk is from counterfeit cards and stolen card data, which are used to make purchases in person or online. Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and using more advanced techniques, tools and targets than ever before.
- Criminals may use a device that reads the information on your card’s magnetic stripe and sends it over a wireless connection to their computer or smartphone. They can then print a new plastic card with your account details encoded onto it (known as skimming).
- The payment industry has embraced biometrics as an alternative method for authenticating payments that reduces fraud risk while maintaining customer experience because biometrics can be used in conjunction with passwords or other methods such as two-factor authorization processes like SMS codes sent via text message that must be entered before completing any transaction.
Data breaches
Data breaches are a growing problem. In fact, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches have increased by 63% since 2016 and continue to be one of the biggest cybersecurity threats consumers face today. That’s why it’s important to understand what data breaches are and how they can affect you so that you can protect yourself from them.
Data breaches occur when there is an unintentional loss or disclosure of sensitive information such as credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information (PII) through hacking or some other type of attack on your business’s IT system or physical location. Data breaches typically occur due to human error (e.g., mistaken emailing or faxing), malware infections and phishing attacks where fraudsters impersonate legitimate sources such as banks or government agencies in order to gain access to personal information for nefarious purposes.
Once this sensitive information has been compromised by hackers who then sell off batches on dark web marketplaces for thousands of dollars per sale.
Conclusion
Powerful online fraud prevention solutions provide online merchants with the ability to reduce and prevent ecommerce fraudulent transactions, chargebacks and unauthorized payments. At First Atlantic Commerce, all of our services are available to merchants, banks and gateways (independent of card transaction/authorization) which includes:
- Pre-Authentication Services
- 3D-Secure
- Fraud Prevention with Kount
Click here to learn more on how merchants in the Caribbean and Central America can work with First Atlantic Commerce for ecommerce processing.