A new research from consumer credit reporting agency TransUnion revealed that phishing is the top digital fraud across the globe related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its research report “Consumer Financial Hardship Studies” TransUnion stated that 27% of consumers reported that they were hit with COVID-19-themed phishing scams. Nearly, 32% of respondents said they had been targeted by digital fraud related to COVID-19.
“From the impacts of phishing and other well documented COVID-19 scams like unemployment fraud, it’s clear that fraudsters have the data and increasing opportunities to create synthetic identities and utilize stolen identities. Identity fraud is a primary way fraudsters leverage stolen consumer data from phishing and other social engineering schemes. It can have long-term impacts for consumers such as the compromise of multiple online accounts and bringing down credit scores, which we anticipate will increase during pandemic reconstruction,” said Shai Cohen, Senior Vice President of Global Fraud & Identity Solutions at TransUnion.
The Top Global Online COVID-19 Scams Targeting Consumers
|
Rankings |
Percentage Hit by Scheme |
| Phishing |
27% |
| Third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail websites |
21% |
| Charity and fundraising scam |
19% |
| Unemployment scam |
18% |
| Fraudulent COVID-19 vaccines, cures, tests, and PPE |
15% |
| Fake insurance |
15% |
| Shipping fraud |
14% |
| Identity theft |
14% |
| Stolen credit card or fraudulent charges |
13% |
| Stimulus check scam |
12% |
| Someone changing your personal or account information via a call center |
12% |
| Account taken over |
11% |
Online COVID-19 Scams Targeting Consumers by Country
| Country | Top Fraud Type | Percent Targeted by All Digital COVID-19 Fraud |
|
Canada |
Phishing |
30% |
| Colombia |
Third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail websites |
25% |
|
Hong Kong |
Phishing |
37% |
|
South Africa |
Unemployment scam |
38% |
|
The U.K. |
Phishing |
30% |
|
The U.S. |
Phishing |
31% |
The findings are based on the responses from 7,384 consumers surveyed in Canada, Colombia, Hong Kong, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. between June 30 and July 6, 2020.
Bala Kumar, vice president of product management, Global Fraud & Identity Solutions at TransUnion, said, “With successful phishing attacks that have increased during the pandemic, data breaches and social media sharing, consumers should assume their data is on the dark web. Despite these threats, consumers expect that organizations will protect their identities, and enable secure but still convenient digital experiences. TransUnion’s Document Verification solution provides comprehensive consumer-friendly identity verification by triangulating the validity of the document, danger of the device used to capture the document and risk associated with the identity on the document.”
