Cybercriminals Exploit Gaps in Merchants’ Protocols

An increase in the quality of cyberattacks and an overall 12 percent increase in the dollar amount associated with fraud were noted during the one-year period from Q2 2018 to Q2 2019, according to Forter’s recently released Fraud Attack Index. Fraudsters are shifting their focus from brute force attacks involving high-quantity targets to higher-quality, directed attacks.

Cyberthieves are transitioning their efforts beyond the point of transaction and are gaining access to consumers’ accounts in creative ways. Forter found that more than 1.5 million individuals whose accounts had been compromised also had additional, illegal accounts opened in their names.

Fraudsters also are diversifying into softer nonfinancial currencies and moving beyond transactional credit card fraud into loyalty account fraud and policy abuse, which has risen 89 percent over last year, according to the Fraud Attack Index. Fraud in the form of buy online/return in-store increased by 23 percent over the previous year, and buy online/pick up in-store also increased by 23 percent. Abuse of couponing programs rose 10 percent, according to Forter.

“The industry as a whole has done a tremendous job detecting and preventing payment fraud at the point of transaction. This eliminates the amateurs. We’re seeing fraudsters now shift their efforts earlier in the customer journey, gaining access to consumers’ accounts,” said Michael Reitblat, CEO and co-founder of Forter. “Merchants need to respond by implementing a continuous and automated approach that assesses events throughout the entirety of the customer journey. It’s no longer sufficient to focus solely on chargebacks and credit card fraud at the point of transaction. Only a fully integrated fraud prevention platform will enable merchants to address fraud in a holistic and accurate manner across the entire customer journey.”

Cybercrime will be in focus at TRANSACT, the one show focused solely on the business of payments technology. In the Risk, Fraud and Security Track, experts will discuss trends like eCommerce card skimming, cybercrime, PCI compliance and more. Click here to read more about TRANSACT, happening April 27-30, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.