Black Friday and the holiday season will bring more fraud
attempts - here's how to protect yourself
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --
Highlights:
- The pandemic is driving holiday shoppers online creating a more
lucrative target for fraud and scams targeting consumers.
- FICO's Liz Lasher has five
top tips for consumers to avoid fraud over the 2020 holiday
shopping period.
- Find out what banks are doing to protect consumers from fraud
these holidays.
- Start a conversation with Liz on twitter @LizFightsFraud about
fraud or our tips.
As we head into the holiday season, you've probably had enough
stress in 2020. But wait––yet another wrench has been thrown in
this challenging year! Fraud has spiked during the pandemic, with
criminals upping their game as consumers swing into holiday
shopping mode. Read on for five powerful fraud-fighting tips to
help you break out of the 2020 doldrums and end the year with a
little less stress!
More information: https://www.fico.com/blogs/holiday-fraud
Like COVID, Fraud Is Rampant
The fraud problem has gone viral - consumers have
filed more than 130,000 reports of fraud to the FTC and have
lost $182 million to these activities
during the pandemic. UK Finance reports over £27 million was lost
to fraud at online marketplaces and auction websites in the first
half of 2020. Just as COVID has dramatically impacted our shopping
habits, it's affected our financial safety, too.
- Payment card fraud, identity theft, account
takeover and digital payment fraud have all
increased significantly since March
2020.
- COVID-related scams are rampant and rapidly evolving.
- When it comes to holiday shopping, criminals are primed to jump
into the fray to perpetrate fraudulent transactions, hoping they'll
pass as legitimate; a recent survey led by Pitney Bowes found
that 57% of consumers plan to shop online more this year.
Meanwhile, 45% of consumers say they already do more than half of
their current shopping online–nearly three times
pre-pandemic.
With that in mind, there are actions you can take right now to
protect yourself from fraud and identity theft.
It Pays to Protect Yourself
"When it comes to financial fraud, such as account takeover,
banks are on your side," said Liz
Lasher, vice president of Fraud, Financial Crime and Cyber
Risk Portfolio Marketing at FICO. "However, prevention is
critical, particularly when it comes to identity theft,
because the clean-up can be quite difficult and messy,
and recovering stolen funds can be a tedious, months-long
process.
"Credit card fraud is more quickly resolved, but you may still
have to go through the hassle of having transactions declined
and filing a fraud claim with your bank or card provider.
At the other end of the spectrum, scams, or as the industry
calls it 'authorized push payment fraud' can have traumatic,
long-term effects. It occurs when you, the consumer, approve a
transaction, and you are most often held liable for the payment. In
this instance, banks will not always foot the bill for damages.
"To reduce your risk of being a victim of any of these crimes,
here are my five top tips to protect yourself against fraud this
holiday season."
Tip #1: Revisit Your Password Habits
We've all pretty aware of the concept of strong passwords,
mixing lowercase letters, capitals, numbers and symbols. But let me
challenge you change your thinking, because it turns out that long
passwords are even more important than strong passwords. The length
and strength of a password, combined, is the strongest deterrent to
a hacker cracking your password with brute-force computing
power.
It's also important is to use a unique password for each of your
accounts, particularly important ones—not just bank and brokerage
accounts, but PayPal, Gmail and Amazon, everything! I can't
overemphasize the effectiveness – and elegant simplicity - of
browse-based password managers that suggest randomized long, strong
passwords, and manage them for you.
Tip #2: Take Advantage of Authentication Features
I highly recommend using any additional authentication
capabilities offered by apps and websites you visit frequently;
they're a second layer of protection to make sure you're really
you. The easiest type to use is a one-time passcode, which can be
texted or emailed to you.
Face biometrics are increasingly popular, too, particularly for
banking and financial apps. If an app has a face biometrics
capability (like Face ID on the iPhone), use it. You may run across
someone who thinks you shouldn't use face authentication because
then the government will have your picture and personal
information. This was the subject of a recent meme, the punch
line of which said, 'Wait until [this guy] finds out about driver
licenses.' Very funny, but in all seriousness, face biometrics and
voice biometric authentication are a growing part of a multi-prong
approach to increasing the security around your accounts.
Tip #3: Use Trusted Payment Methods
New payment apps are cool, but be careful. Do your research,
read the reviews, and check Google carefully to see if the app is a
scam. If in doubt, use ApplePay, PayPal, or another payment app you
know and trust.
If you're sending cash from your online or mobile banking app,
and you need to send money to a new recipient, do a test
transaction with a small amount of money and ask that person to
confirm they got it. I did this the other day when I was paying
someone to inspect my house for termites. It was a $100 inspection, but I was worried I'd type in
the wrong phone number and send $100
to the wrong person. We did a $1 test
transaction together to make sure I got his information
correct.
Tip #4: Be Skeptical
It's the giving season—during a pandemic—which multiplies the
opportunities for fraudsters to try to scam you.
Although GoFundMe states that "the overwhelming majority
of fundraisers on our platform are safe and legitimate," scams
do happen there and many other places. Unfortunately, not
every scam is identified and prosecuted; unless you personally know
the person or family benefiting from a contribution, or can verify
that the recipient's identity and need, think twice (hard) before
you donate.
To protect yourself from charity and disaster fraud (such as
relief funds that spring up after hurricanes and wildfires), make
sure the donation website is legitimate. It's very easy for
criminals to create lookalike websites that siphon off credit card
and personal information, which can then be quickly used to run up
fraudulent transactions. The FBI has a very useful tip
sheet to help you spot fake charity and disaster sites.
Tip #5: Monitor Your Credit Report
Everyone––and I mean everyone––needs to monitor their credit
reports. Not just to stay informed about credit history, but also a
proxy for early indication of fraud such as identity theft. If you
have young children, or take care of your elderly members of your
family, or don't expect needing credit yourself anytime soon, you
can also consider freezing your credit. This will also freeze all
of the accounts associated with your identity.
At the very least, periodically reviewing credit reports will
help you find out if anything strange or unexpected is happening.
Nipping identity theft or credit misuse in the bud could help you
avoid losing a few dollars or a large sum of money, as well as well
as having to rebuild your credit health.
Want to see what banks are doing to keep you safe? Check out
this blog post on Out of Sight: How Banks Protect Consumers
from Credit Card Fraud.
Have questions or comments on my fraud-fighting tips for this
holiday season? Tweet at me on Twitter @LizFightsFraud.
About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that
help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in
1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the
use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational
decisions. FICO holds more than 195 US and foreign patents on
technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and
growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications,
health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO
solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from
protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people
get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars
are in the right place at the right time.
Learn more at http://www.fico.com
FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the
U.S. and other countries.
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