International Fraud Awareness Week plays a crucial role in raising global awareness about the pervasive issue of fraud and the imperative need for vigilance in our interconnected world. This annual event serves as a powerful reminder of the far-reaching consequences of fraudulent activities, which extend beyond financial losses to damage trust, reputation, and even livelihoods. During this week, organizations, governments, and individuals come together to share knowledge, best practices, and resources, fostering a united front against fraud. By promoting awareness, education, and ethical conduct, International Fraud Awareness Week empowers people to recognize, prevent, and combat fraud, ultimately contributing to the protection of individuals and the integrity of our global economy. We heard from security and privacy leaders on the current fraud landscape and what organizations can be doing to protect users and partners against threats. Peter Barker, Chief Product Officer, Ping Identity
“This International Fraud Awareness Week, businesses are reminded to be acutely aware of identity theft and breaches of customer’s personal identifiable information, especially with the continued rise of AI tools and prevalence of social media platforms. In fact, globally, consumers are most concerned about identity theft over other potential outcomes associated with having their personal information online, including financial loss or government surveillance.
As we approach the holiday season, these fears are especially heightened, with over 44% of consumers more concerned about fraud during the holiday season when shopping online than at other times of the year. That being said, 50% of consumers report that multi-factor authentication would make them feel more protected against fraud, alerting organizations to the need for more secure login methods.
Organizations that are able to implement modern authentication technologies, like passwordless and MFA solutions, will not only ensure the safety of critical data by reducing cyber risks, but will boost consumer trust, leading to increased revenue, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.”
Sameer Hajarnis, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Agreements, OneSpan
“Fraud has escalated as digital adoption across the business landscape has increased. Given the rise of AI technology and high-value transactions conducted online, new attack vectors have come to the forefront, with sophisticated social engineering attacks and identity theft techniques like deepfakes and synthetic identities causing turmoil. To combat these fraudulent attacks, we need to look beyond legacy verification solutions to ensure the integrity of all digital interactions, transactions, and agreements, thus ultimately protecting digital identities from fraud.
Organizations need to think of authentication, fraud management, and customer experience (CX) collectively as they can have a cascading effect on the others. Given customers now expect seamless online experiences as they leverage digital-first technology like e-signatures, a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes security and customer satisfaction is key to business longevity and effectively combating the challenges posed by cybercriminals. With 51% of organizations experiencing fraud in the past few years, International Fraud Awareness Week serves as a crucial reminder about the evolving tactics employed by fraudsters and the importance of preventive measures to protect against diverse forms of fraud, including deceptive contracts.”
David Divitt, Senior Director of Fraud Prevention & Experience, Veriff
“The fraud landscape is rapidly evolving and expanding. Consumers have lost billions of dollars to fraud, and tools such as those fueled by AI are making fraud activity more accessible to bad actors, regardless of their technical prowess. Today, fraud teams need to regularly assess threats to stay ahead of fraud patterns. Robust, trustworthy fraud protection is not a one-and-done solution and ensuring digital safety must extend far beyond International Fraud Awareness Week.
An effective fraud defense must be strong, dynamic and multi-faceted. One essential tool necessary is identity verification (IDV). The rise of deepfakes, account takeovers and phishing validates the criticality of quickly and securely verifying digital identities. Relying on legacy approaches can expose an organization to bad actors; passwords are vulnerable to data breaches, and two-factor authentication is susceptible to device compromise. It is time security leaders reevaluate and begin to modernize IDV technology. To remain competitive and secure, organizations need to adopt technology and processes that are as painless as possible for the end-user, taking a "right-friction" approach to fraud prevention, without compromising safety. Fraudsters are constantly innovating with their technology so businesses must, too. They need to stay two steps ahead and beat the bad actors at their own game.”
Jenn Markey, VP Product Marketing, Payments & Identity, Entrust
“Fraud and cybercrime continue to escalate; the FTC reports that 2.9M fraud reports were filed in 2022, with identity theft as the top category for consumer complaints. This International Fraud Awareness Week, it’s critical for business leaders – especially those at financial institutions who are storing personal identity information (PII) and confidential, long-life data – to take the necessary steps to minimize the threat of fraud, protect consumers and secure their businesses against evolving threats.
AI-enabled deepfakes and synthetic identities represent two of the most nefarious challenges to organizations seeking to prevent fraudulent activity and comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. The most effective way to keep organizations, their employees, and customers protected from these highly realistic attack vectors is by focusing on innovations in identity verification, biometrics, and AI, which are helping enterprises fight back. Research shows consumers are ready for this change – in a recent report, 63% of respondents said they are comfortable with banks using AI for detecting fraud, budgeting, investing, and customer service (chatbots).
It’s important to understand that anti-fraud awareness and education extends far beyond just this week and all organizations should work to implement an extra layer of security while improving the customer experience at the same time.”
Jason Kent, Hacker in Residence, Cequence Security
"International Fraud Awareness Week serves as a timely reminder of the ever-evolving nature of fraud, requiring organizations to remain vigilant and informed. The exponential rise in fraudulent activities, bolstered by the widespread adoption of digital commerce, has placed an immense burden on fraud prevention teams. They find themselves locked in a relentless battle against campaigns targeting their organizations, a struggle that has far-reaching consequences. The surge in fraudulent activity has translated into increased financial losses, eroded customer trust, and a noticeable decline in brand loyalty.
From fake accounts and romance scams to phishing attacks and ransomware demands, both individuals and organizations face the threat of falling victim to fraudulent attacks. The risks are particularly heightened for banks, insurance companies, and fintech institutions, who require a robust fraud prevention solution that enables them to accurately detect fraudulent activity as it occurs - blocking unauthorized actions promptly before they cause harm to their users and their business. This will become increasingly more difficult to do with the recent advancements announced in the CFPB Dodd-Frank 1033 update from last month. Implementing a solution capable of preventing fraud in real-time empowers fraud mitigation teams to take back control, enabling them to be aware of the exact moment when fraudulent transactions occur."