The season of happiness and joy is almost here. Christmas lights, snowy winter, and the new year’s welcome are all the things we are excited about. But this season of happiness can turn into a season of sadness and sorrow.
The holiday season is the highest time for frauds and scams. Financial crime during this time is rising because of identity theft and data breach. The increase in consumer spending attracts many fraudsters to disrupt the transaction and gain financial rewards. According to the Global ID Fraud Report, last year, the fraud rate during the holiday season was approximately 20.55%.
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E-Commerce and Fraud
Recently, because of the increase in technology, e-commerce businesses have gained a lot of popularity. Businesses are moving their appearance in the online market to reach more customers and gain more revenue. Pandemic has also helped online businesses gain much more revenue as customers prefer to buy from their homes.
Online shoppers have been the biggest victim of online fraud. 29% of people have reported being a victim of fraud multiple times. Fraudsters and hackers steal from individuals by manipulating them into providing their credentials like bank account numbers or credit card information. During the last holiday, every one in five people has experienced online fraud while shopping.
You can see that fraudsters are everywhere, either online or offline. Not just in eCommerce, but Real Estate, Exchange Parts, and several other fields where there is an online presence, fraudsters are everywhere. In Real Estate, you can face Lead Generation fraud from several websites. I have seen many people who face these frauds.
To avoid Real Estate fraud, you need to work with trusted people or businesses. In Real Estate, the common fraud is Skip Tracing. Investors who don’t want to go and check the apartment’s information hire Skip Tracers by sending them leads. Those leads are nothing but a simple email answered by Skip Tracers.
Lert Skip Tracing is the best resource to avoid this fraud because it delivers quality leads and tracing information. This should be your go-through resource because you’ll get high-quality leads and tracing information. So to avoid this Real Estate fraud, make sure to follow that website because it delivers high-quality leads that convert like a PRO.
Cybercriminal Activities During Holidays
One of the very common cybercrimes committed by cybercriminals is account takeover fraud. Hackers take over your account, committing identity theft. The purpose is not just to steal your account but any reward they can get out of it.
Hackers are successful in getting into account because of a lack of identity verification and authentication. It is easy for hackers to get into individuals’ other accounts as many use the same password for every account. According to one research, more than 65% use the same password for every internet account.
We have all received phishing emails or scams emails asking us to click on a link or perform a desired action. Phishing emails manipulate online users into sharing their personal information, which is useful for fraudsters. The user’s lack of knowledge made him not recognize the suspicious link can be a great danger. Just by clicking on the link, the hacker can enter into the user system.
During the holiday season, these kinds of attacks are common and on the rise. Thousands of internet users report receiving phishing emails during the holiday season. The use of AI by fraudsters makes them successful and untraceable for us to catch them. The advanced system usage by cybercriminals can hack into even a complex password.
Credit Card Fraud
Credit card fraud is a serious concern that has reported a loss of more than 100 million dollars. Both customers and businesses have been victims and lost millions because of credit card misuse. In the holiday season, fraud exceeds large numbers.
The banking sector has failed to prevent credit card fraud by not monitoring the transaction. There should be a system implementation that requires transaction monitoring to identify if the legitimate owner is making the account transaction. Banks should include KYT Verification for verifying each transaction made.
Prevent Fraud Through KYC Verification
KYC or Know Your Customer verification is an artificial intelligence-based system that verifies an individual’s identity. Businesses perform KYC verification before entering their customer into their platform. This exercise helps businesses to prevent an imposter from entering into their platform.
Online businesses, especially online banking, are using KYC verification to identify identity crimes. In the holiday season, when fraudsters and scammers are more active, businesses must protect themself from any attack. The attack will hurt their business and their customer, which will end in losing their customer market.
The fraudster is taking the help of AI to attack businesses that should have AI-based KYC Compliance to prevent identity theft. Predators are using advanced AI that includes deep fake, auto-reply, biometric fraud to manipulate identity verification. The AI-based KYC is a sophisticated machine learning algorithm that learns to identify fraud.
Conclusion
Fraudsters will always look for new opportunities to make our life worse. The increasing trend of fraud during the holiday season is something that no one likes. The time brings us joy to meet and exchange gifts with each other. It is important to save yourself and your business from any fraudulent activity that can harm us.
