Banking fraud rises by more than 150 percent

A new report from financial crime management platform Feedzai shows that all banking fraud -- combining internet, telephone, and branch attacks -- grew by 159 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the end of 2020.

Based on analysis of over 12 billion global banking transactions from January to March 2021 the study shows online banking made up 96 percent of all banking transactions and accounted for 93 percent of all fraud attempts.

As more shoppers choose to make purchases from their mobile phones, the report also finds that Android users are more likely to experience fraud. Of the total volume of fraudulent transactions, 34 percent were conducted on iOS, and 66 percent were attributed to Android. Despite a disproportionately higher total transaction volume on iOS, Android devices still make up two thirds of fraud attempts.

The top scams are account takeover (42 percent), account opening identity theft (23 percent), impersonation scams (21 percent), purchase scams (15 percent), and phishing (seven percent).

"As restrictions start to lift in many parts of the world, consumers have been spending more, which gives cybercriminals an expanded playing field," says Jaime Ferreira, senior director of global data science at Feedzai. "Financial institutions need to make sure they're not only ready for a sizable increase in transaction volume, but also prepared and able to handle the uptick in fraud attempts that goes with it. The Feedzai Financial Crime Report can help shed some light on where financial institutions can focus these efforts to keep their customers transacting safely."

The full report is available from the Feedzai site.

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