Digital fraudsters remain rampant

The rate of suspected digital fraud attempts in retail, where the consumer was in Namibia during transactions, was the highest among industries analysed in 2023 at 3.4%.

However, that rate decreased by 21% year-on-year (y/y), according to TransUnion’s 2024 State of Omnichannel Fraud Report.

In terms of industries with the greatest increase in the rate of suspected digital fraud, travel and leisure led with a 67% rise, followed by gaming (online sports betting, poker, etc.), where the rate of suspected digital fraud increased by 37% y/y.

TransUnion also found across industries in 2023, 1.2% of all transactions where the consumer was in Namibia were flagged as being suspected digital fraud – a decrease of 1% y/y.

The TransUnion report showed that nearly one in seven (13.5%) newly created accounts are suspected to be created via digital fraud globally, largely driven by bad actors using fabricated or stolen identities.

This may indicate a shift in the tactics deployed by fraudsters hoping to engage earlier in the transactional process, TransUnion said.

Paradigm shift

Examples of the types of transactions that take place during the account creation process include account signup, registration and loan origination.

Among the industries that saw the highest percentage of digital account creation transactions suspected to be digital fraud globally last year were retail (44.7%), travel and leisure (36.0%), as well as video gaming (31.5%).

“This early phase new account digital fraud may represent a paradigm shift of sorts among fraudsters globally,” said Lara Burger, country manager at TransUnion Namibia.

“In lieu of using traditional tactics to gain access to and ultimately compromise existing accounts, they are increasingly choosing to create new accounts that they can control themselves. These fraudsters leverage synthetic identities assembled in large part through the use of credentials gathered as a result of one or multiple data breaches,” Burger said.

Login

In contrast, for transactions where the consumer was in Namibia, the highest percentage of suspected digital fraud in the online customer journey occurred at account login, at 1.6%, varying widely by industry.

The study found that 5% of all global digital transactions were suspected to be digital fraud last year, with the volume of risky transactions up 14% y/y and 105% from 2019 to 2023.

This growth continues to outpace the growth in digital transactions overall, which rose 90% from 2019 to 2023.

“In recent years, the global retail industry has consistently been among those with the highest suspected fraud attempt rates. However, in 2023 it climbed to the top of the list,” said Burger.

“As a result of credentials stolen in data breaches, often in industries other than retail, it has become increasingly easy for fraudsters to perpetuate attacks that leave retailers vulnerable to account takeover.”