Global digital fraud down, but total money lost climbs
BI Report || BusinessInsider
Data Source: Trans Union
The global digital fraud rate decreased in Q1 2022 with suspected online fraud attempts declining 22.6 percent from the same quarter last year. However, the total amount of money lost to fraud continues to climb.
The findings were revealed recently by TransUnion, the Federal Trade Commission, and data analysis company LexisNexis.
The findings suggest fraud attempts increased with the start of the pandemic but may be receding. At the same time, fraudsters are stealing more from victims with each attempt.
The suspected fraud rate year-over-year (YoY) declined in industries such as financial services, telecommunications and retail while fraudsters significantly increased their scams in sectors such as gambling, insurance and logistics.
After increases in fraud reports in 2020 and 2021, recent data suggests the fraud rate impacting a large swath of the economy decreased at the beginning of 2022, nearing pre-pandemic levels.
Despite the decreases, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more fraud reports in 2021 than 2020, and related data shows total losses to fraud are increasing.
An example of an imposter scheme is a faux romantic interest asking the victim for money, or someone claiming to be a bank employee and making false claims that the victim’s account is compromised.
