As more consumers go online for banking and other financial transactions, new research from TransUnion, an American consumer credit reporting agency, has found that fraudsters are ramping up their efforts in the financial services industry.
When comparing the last four months of 2020 (September 1 – December 31) and the first four months of 2021 (January 1 – May 1), the company found the percentage of suspected digital fraud attempts coming from South Africa in financial services increased by 187%.
Globally, the rate of financial services fraud attempts increased by 149%.
Across industries, the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts globally rose 24% when comparing the first four months of 2021 with the last four months of 2020. In South Africa, the overall percentage of fraud attempts increased by 7% during the same time period.