Category: Fraud

Marketplace fraud is as the name suggests. A buyer or seller makes false claims through a company. The fraud could be as simple as making false claims about the quality of products and services, or selling different items as advertised.

An online marketplace provides a platform that buyers and sellers to find one another. eBay is the father of online marketplaces. Launched in 1995, it opened the floodgates for other online marketplaces.

Since then, online marketplaces have grown to offer so much more. Any service or product you could think of, you’d be able to find a marketplace for it.

Marketplace Fraud Trends

At its core, the fraud marketplace can be broken into two categories. Buyer scams and seller scams. You’ll be able to find scammers on both sides of the transaction. 

Here’s a breakdown of the common buyer and seller marketplace fraud trends:

Types of Buyer Fraud

Scams that target buyers are more than common on online marketplaces. Here are the most common types of fraud that scammers use to trick buyers.

1. Counterfeit Goods

Millions want the luxury of expensive goods but don’t have the money to experience the luxury. To match this demand, fake luxury goods are produced in countries like China, Turkey, and others. Online marketplaces face a lot of issues with counterfeit goods.

Customers who can’t differentiate between original goods and counterfeit tend to fall for these scams.

Sellers are extremely good at tricking people into believing that they’re selling a legit item. Customers often fall prey to paying absurd amounts of money for a fake item.

The best way to prevent this fraud is to research about possible counterfeits. There are online forums such as Reddit that have communities that can help you decide whether a good is legit or fake.

2. Non-Delivery Scams

This is another common marketplace fraud trend. The best way to scam a buyer is by selling an item that the scammer never intends to deliver.

There are situations where the seller makes up a fake advertisement and doesn’t have anything to sell. You can probably find photos that look suspicious and the seller may not be able to answer specific questions. 

The best way to tackle this fraud is to always ask for secondary images and images from different angles. You can ask the seller to also send a photo of the product and a piece of paper with your name written on it. 

This is in no way a complete solution as a lot of scammers do have the item in their possession. By making fake listings, sellers can sell a single item multiple times to multiple victims without delivering anything. 

Some ways to spot this type of fraud include:

• Check reviews and comments. Especially look if anyone has mentioned being scammed by this seller. 
• Ask whether you can pick up the item in person and pay via cash. If the sellers tell you they can only send it via post, it’s probably a scam.
• Always be wary of people who want you to pay using cryptocurrencies or use any non-secure payment methods. Apart from cryptocurrencies, look out for international fund transfers, money orders, and pre-loaded gift cards.
• If the seller pushes you to make the money transfer as soon as possible. And if they try to give some enticing offer to sell you the product as soon as possible, they’re trying to manipulate you into buying.
• If the seller requests that you communicate or pay outside of the Facebook marketplace, then it is most likely a scammer.

3. Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are one of the most common types of scams you’ll find online. These types of scams can be just as common on online marketplaces as they are elsewhere. 

A phishing scam is designed to steal your personal information to defraud you. To make this type of fraud happen, fraudsters make up a fake listing. These listings can contain links to malicious websites that are designed to steal your data.

The best way to identify phishing scams is when the scammer asks for your personal information. Sensitive information that makes no sense to ask for while purchasing something.

Any sensitive information you provide to the scammer can be used to engage in fraud.

4. Rental Scams

Rental scams are growing at an alarming pace. Scammers make up fake listings for properties, rooms, boats, sports arenas, etc.

Once someone shows an interest, the scammer asks for an upfront payment or deposit to secure the rental. After the buyer makes the payment, they lose their money as there is no rental place/equipment to use.

To prevent yourself from getting scammed, don’t rent on marketplaces that aren’t built for specifically renting services. Moreover, you can ask to see the place/equipment first and pay money in person.

5. Ticket Scams

If you’re on the hunt for tickets to a sold-out Foo Fighters concert, seeking a Lollapalooza ticket, or coming across unbelievably cheap entry to a famous art gallery on Facebook Marketplace, beware of ticket scams.

Scammers are adept at selling counterfeit tickets that look genuine but will leave you disappointed on the night of the event. To safeguard yourself, exercise extreme caution and only purchase tickets from authorized sellers and resellers.

While legitimate ticket touts do exist, selling tickets at a premium, there are just as many scammers peddling expensive forgeries, with Facebook Marketplace being a preferred platform for their schemes. Stay vigilant and follow these guidelines to avoid falling victim to ticket scams:

Purchase tickets only from authorized sellers and resellers.

• Be wary of deals that seem too good to be true or significantly cheaper than the regular ticket price.
• Verify the seller’s legitimacy by checking their reputation, reviews, or feedback from previous buyers.
• Avoid using insecure or non-refundable payment methods like bank transfers or cryptocurrency.
• Exercise caution with electronic or print-at-home tickets, as they can be easily forged and sent by scammers via email.
• Cross-check ticket details, including the date, time, venue, and seating information, against the official event information to spot potential discrepancies in the scammer’s advertisement.
• Compare the ticket’s appearance with an official one to detect signs of counterfeiting.
• Be cautious of sellers who rush you into making a payment.
• If possible, meet the seller in person to verify the authenticity of the tickets before purchasing. Trust your instincts and thoroughly assess the legitimacy of the ticket purchase from the seller.
• Maintain all communication and documentation related to your ticket purchase as evidence for potential complaints.

6. Pet Scams

The pandemic and the rise of remote work have sparked increased interest in pet ownership. Unfortunately, scammers have exploited this trend by creating fake listings for pedigree puppies, kittens, and other popular pets on Facebook Marketplace.

To avoid being defrauded by pet scams, follow this simple checklist:

• Visit the seller in person to verify the existence of the pet, its health, and the conditions it is kept in.
• Do not make upfront payments for vaccines or unnecessary charges.
• Only provide a deposit if you are certain about the seller’s legitimacy.
• Use secure payment services for transactions.
• Preferably, pay for the pet when you pick it up to ensure its authenticity.

Seller Scams

Sellers are not exempt from fraud, and awareness of potential pitfalls is crucial to safeguard themselves. Here are some common seller scams:

1. Payment and Overpayment Scams

Always verify that you have received a payment from the buyer and that it has completely cleared before offering any refund. Use payment methods that cannot be reversed at the last minute.

2. Returns Scams

Wait until you have received the returned item and checked its condition before issuing a refund.

3. Electronic Payment Delay Scams

Never allow a buyer to leave with the item until their payment has fully cleared.

4. 2FA Scams

Avoid sharing your phone number and 2FA codes with anyone you meet online, as they may exploit them for fraudulent purposes.

5. Phishing Scams

Be cautious of suspicious inquiries and limit sharing of personal information with potential buyers. Use secure communication channels and verified payment methods.

Always trust your instincts and proceed with caution when dealing with buyers or sellers on online platforms like Facebook Marketplace or others. Following these guidelines can help you avoid falling victim to scams.

According to several surveys, it has become evident that strong fraud protection is the first thing in banking customers’ minds.

In this world of growing fraud, it’s no surprise that customers want some sense of security. The banking and financial services landscape has grown at an exceptional pace in the last decade. Fraudsters have taken complete advantage of these untested changes. Resulting in higher-than-ever fraud records every year.

In the UK, trade bodies have asked to consider fraud levels a national threat. Financial services businesses have increased their investment in fraud prevention and ID authentication solutions.

What Customers Want From Banking Institutions?

Since the start of the growth of digital banking, customers want strong authentication above everything else. It has become the primary deciding factor when it comes to choosing a financial service provider.

In EMEA countries, great fraud protection is the number one factor when choosing financial services. 

Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of people in each country who put security above everything else:

• Germany – 36%
• South Africa – 34%
• Sweden – 32%
• UK – 36%

Incredible level of fraud protection as a priority has been growing for customers. Businesses that have failed reputation around fraud protection tend to be less attractive to customers. 

With the growing number of people wanting great fraud protection, a business that can make it happen will gain a competitive advantage.

Fraud Attacks and Highlights in Media

Media coverage of the number of growing attacks in recent years has made customers more aware of security. Around 1 in 4, customers believe that their identities could have been stolen and used by fraudsters to open fake accounts.

The increased coverage by the media has helped customers understand the necessity of protecting their identities and protecting themselves from fraud. One in two customers even understand the importance of protecting their identity to help prevent money laundering.

Friction is a Problem

Security checks by financial institutions have increased globally. Each country has its own regulatory body that set the rules and guides for security checks. In the last 5 years, customers have seen significant growth in online ID checks when signing up online and making purchases. 

One in four South Africans has stopped or reduced their use of credit cards for online transactions because of the time-consuming checks. In the UK and Germany, the number is around 1 out of every 5 people. 

This is not to say that consumers want fraud protection methods to be eliminated from the process. It is clear that customers want a secure service provider but they don’t want the transaction to be so full of friction that it takes hours or days. 

Fast onboarding and ease of use are the biggest drivers of the digital banking industry. Almost half of all consumers across the UK, Germany, and Sweden want quick onboarding times. 

While customers want stronger and more effective fraud control and prevention methods, they also want a quick process.

Growing Number of Authentication Methods

Only a couple of years ago, biometric checks were considered an uncertain method of authentication. Today, biometric authentication is the preferred method of authentication. 

Fingerprint verification ranks the highest when it comes to authentication methods. South Africans out of all the countries showed the highest preference for fingerprint authentication. Face scans and iris scans are also ranked among the other top 5 customer authentication methods.

Authentication using passcodes (One time passwords sent through banking apps or SMS messages) is still a highly ranked feature. The use of usernames and passwords is falling drastically, but they’re still an important part of multi-factor authentication.

This also suggests that there’s a growing suite of authentication methods allowing consumers to access their accounts and transact online. 

Conclusion

Consumers have a huge number of expectations of their financial service providers and the level of fraud protection they provide. Organizations have to strike a balance between alternative providers and completely frictionless experiences. 

Consumers are also aware of how relentless fraudsters are and they expect to be protected. As long as the friction is ideal for the circumstances and the level of risk is high, customers will be fine with additional verification checks. 

The key for providers is to understand that ID verification isn’t just about preventing fraud. It is also part of an organizational process. Great fraud protection provides consumers with a competitive advantage and it should play a major role.

Synthetic fraud and first-party fraud is becoming a major challenge. Both first-party fraud and synthetic fraud are hard to detect. In this guide, we’ll dive deeper into how banks and telecom organizations can identify these types of fraud without adding friction to the process of real customers.

The biggest problem with first-party fraud is figuring out real customers from fake ones. Making the onboarding process too difficult can discourage genuine customers from signing up. Banks and telecom have to make the process easier to encourage business. At the same time, they need to prevent fake customers from signing up.

Without properly analyzing these fabricated customers, businesses are at a higher risk of onboarding fraudsters. Here are the top 5 ways for businesses to fight first-party fraud and synthetic identity fraud.

Tips to Fight First Party & Synthetic Identity Fraud

Here are some ways businesses can employ to fight first-party fraud and synthetic fraud. 

1. Learn the Difference Between Bad Debt and Intentional Bad Debt

Businesses need to be aware of the differences between intentional and unintentional bad debt or fraud. With the right type of analytics, basic patterns of intentionality can become easy to spot. These include linked accounts that people used to pay fake bills for each other or to mimic payroll deposits.

2. Learn to Characterize Fraud

This is where a lot of businesses fail. To prevent fraud, first businesses must learn to correctly characterize fraud. Fraudsters try to showcase fraudulent activities as bad debts. 

Characterizing fraud will help you identify patterns and common methods that fraudsters use. Knowledge of common methods can then be passed on to the employees.

3. Define Rules

If your organization doesn’t have a set of pre-defined rules for fraud prevention, you’ll always face challenges against fraud.

A business should always have some pre-defined rules. Moreover, there should be a model to perform link analysis, this helps in examining data for known patterns. 

Some of the most common signs of fraud include phone numbers, names, email addresses, and other identifiers that fraudsters use to apply for loans, and other forms of debt over and over again.

Fraudsters use the same information repeatedly to convert a fake ID into a legit-looking one with some financial history.

4. Enhance Sign-Up Process

Knowing that you know common signs and tricks used by fraudsters, you can implement methods to improve your onboarding process. You can monitor the links between applications. 

As fraudsters use the same information over and over again, you can look for declined applications due to credit risk, or new applications where very little information is provided. 

Make it hard for fraudsters to use an identity they’ve created to sign-up. At the same time, ensure that the onboarding process isn’t too complicated for the ordinary user.

5. Tag Suspicious Activities

There will be times when you won’t be able to figure out if the account is fraudulent or not due to a lack of evidence. Instead of outright rejecting/accepting the application, you should tag the account as suspicious.

This is a part of enhanced due diligence (EDD). Once the account is opened and credit is provided, make sure to closely monitor the account for any suspicious or “out of behavior” activities.

You can look for sudden changes in the account information (Name, address, banking information, etc). This is one of the most common ways to detect fraudulent activities.

Conclusion – Be Proactive While Fighting Fraud

Fraudsters are always on the move, looking for new ways to exploit financial institutions, so it makes sense to be proactive. Organizations have to be extra vigilant and need to provide the level of customer experience that has become standard.

It’s high time to combine fraud prevention methods and user-friendly customer onboarding techniques to come up with a seamless experience.

Digital banking has opened up more means for fraudsters to trick financial institutions, lenders, or end customers. To keep up, businesses have transformed their operations to provide valuable digital banking experience to customers, and combat fraud.

Banks all over the world are now focusing on seamless onboarding experiences. However, this rapid growth in digital banking has also allowed fraudsters to become more creative. The numbers around digital banking fraud, ID theft, and data breaches are increasing rapidly.

In this blog, we’ll outline the common types of fraud, and how and why they’re changing. We’ll also be sharing ways lenders can protect themselves against evolving fraud. 

First off, let’s take a look at the common types of fraud:

What is First-Party Fraud?

First-Party fraud is when a person knowingly falsifies their identity or gives false information for financial or material gain. Common examples include exaggerating their income, fabricating their employment, or providing fake information to take advantage of some services.

Business often categorizes first-party fraud as credit loss and is written off as bad debt. This leads to issues in the long run for businesses trying to figure out how much they’ve lost. The data makes them able to make future lending decisions, and build fraud prevention practices:

Common types of first-party fraud include:

• Fronting

Fronting is when businesses set up services in someone else’s name to save money. Kids applying for car insurance under their parent’s name to get cheaper insurance.

• Address Fronting

Address fronting is when someone uses a different application to get a cheaper service. Someone could sign up for a service in a cheaper area, using a fake address instead of using the real address which costs more money.

• Chargeback Fraud

Chargeback fraud is often called “friendly fraud”. This fraud happens when a user denies making a purchase on a credit or debit card to get a refund from the credit card provider.

• De-Shopping

 It’s a type of fraud that users do when they buy clothes or other items with the intention of returning them after using them and getting a full refund.

• Goods Lost in Transit Fraud

This is a type of fraud that’s increasing at an alarming pace. In this, customers order goods online and claim that they haven’t been delivered. Some buyers claim that the products have been damaged, or even return empty boxes to get a refund.

How is First-Party Fraud Changing?

The type of people that cause first-party fraud has changed significantly during the pandemic. During the pandemic, customers with excellent credit scores and a good repayment history found themselves struggling financially.

According to a report by CIFAS, 1 out of 13 Brits admitted to committing one instance of first-party fraud last year.

What is Second-Party Fraud?

Second-party fraud is when an individual shares their identity or personal information with someone else to commit fraud. The biggest example of second-party fraud includes money mulling.

In money mulling, an individual provides access to someone else to move money in or out of their accounts for a small fee. While a lot of people consider this a victimless crime, it can have some victims. If the money being moved is used to fund violent crimes, terrorism, or drugs, it can be victim-related.

How is Second Party Fraud Changing?

More than often, young people have been the target of second-party fraud. Fraudsters love to use social media to target young people. The trend has changed as more and more older people are involved. As with first-party fraud, the pandemic has pushed more people into financial problems. This makes them more vulnerable to fraudsters.

What is Third-Party Fraud?

Third-party fraud in general is known as identity theft. Fraudsters steal the user’s identity or personal details and use them without the user’s consent. It also includes manufactured identities called synthetic identities. 

There’s a clear victim when it comes to third-party fraud. To a trained eye, it can be easy to spot instances of fraud. It also includes manufactured identities, with the fraudster creating a new identity using stolen and false information.

Third-party fraud is the most common type of fraud that happens throughout the globe. 

How is Third-Party Fraud Changing?

Fraud varies significantly across the lender’s portfolios and the type of products they offer. According to reports, third-party fraud is at risk of growing for current accounts, loans, cards, and savings. Mortgages and asset finance are at an increased risk of first-party fraud.

Combating fraud is challenging, but with technologies like online document verification, online bank verification, or online proof of address verification services can help.

Chances are that you’re reading this blog on your smartphone. That’s because over 60% of all online traffic comes from smartphones. We use our mobile phones for a lot of things, online accounting, social media, emails, and so much more. We carry it with us all the time and use it for every small thing. Smartphones have become an integral part of our personal and professional lives. So, it makes sense that fraudsters would want to gain access to your smartphone.

Mobile fraud has become a major concern in recent years. Just by accessing a single device, fraudsters can take over every single thing they need to. The threat to personal finance and security is very real.

In this guide, we’ll cover the five biggest mobile fraud threats and the best fraud prevention best practices.

Techniques Fraudsters Use for Mobile Fraud

Fraudsters keep coming up with new and interesting ways to conduct fraudulent activities. Although, there are some tried and tested techniques that work in their favor. So here are the top 5 mobile fraud threats that fraudsters love to try:

1. SIM Cloning & SIM Swapping

A common mobile fraud technique that fraudsters use is to take over an individual’s online accounts. This helps them ‘socially engineer’ access to their bank account and other personal and financial data.

This is done by collecting personal data from multiple sources, including messaging and social media sources. Then they use this data to try and persuade the mobile operator to issue a new SIM that a fraudster uses to get all the one-time passwords (OTPs) to access your accounts.

If this method isn’t successful, fraudsters use smart card copying software or use remote hacking to clone a SIM Card.

Cloning a SIM card provides access to all the data, and account details. Through this, they can conduct all kinds of fraudulent activities.

2. Device Cloning

Device cloning is another commonly used mobile fraud technique fraudsters use. Our smartphones contain all the apps and personal data that you need to access services like online banking, online stores, etc.

Fraudsters can transfer data and services from one mobile device to another one, making a clone of the original device. Fraudsters can make calls and conduct transactions from cloned devices without specific checks.

3. Caller ID Spoofing

Your Caller ID is the number visible to the people you’re calling. This helps others to identify who the call is from. Fraudsters can create false caller IDs from a local service provider/company that the victim knows. When the victim picks up the call, the caller tries to obtain personal information under false pretenses.

Calls and messages are sent from this fake ID to trick the victims into divulging personal/confidential information. Once the call or message is answered, the fraudsters will use social engineering methods to persuade victims to provide confidential information.

4. Recycling Phone Numbers

When a mobile user’s account is closed, the mobile operator will release the phone number again after a short period of closing the account. Now the number can be reassigned to someone else and can be used by some other user.

Today, it has become a common practice that mobile numbers are associated with personal accounts. Allowing for the transfer of funds using mobile numbers. A lot of fraudsters activate old mobile numbers with the aim of finding a number that has been recently recycled.

This number can then be used to access accounts linked with the number.

5. Call Forwarding

Call Forwarding is another mobile fraud technique used by fraudsters. In some online transactions, customers are asked to prove whether they have the mobile in their possession or not. This is done by sending a one-time password to the customer.

Sometimes, fraudsters call or text an intended victim, asking them to forward their call on to someone else. This can be done for any fake reason. Once the victim forwards inbound calls and texts to a fraudster’s device, the fraudster will be able to access all the one-time passwords needed to access personal accounts.

Fraudsters can now access accounts, make payments, and conduct other frauds without the victim ever knowing.

Use of Real-Time Data for Preventing Mobile Fraud

Mobile phones have become an undeniable part of our lives. Without smartphones, there are hundreds of things we won’t be able to accomplish on regular basis.

Mobile phones provide unique data in that it is the only source of ‘dynamic’ data on what’s happening in ‘real-time’. This dynamic data can be used to immediately figure out if a device has been lost or stolen, or if a SIM card has been recently swapped. It can even help in figuring out if the inbound calls or texts have been forwarded.

By using mobile data, you can keep fraudsters out, and it’s also helpful in identifying good guys. Companies can do mobile data checks behind the scenes to access online services securely, quickly, and easily, and ensure that customers won’t fall prey to mobile fraud.

The word fraud is used almost every day today. It’s not always hackers sitting behind multiple screens who conduct these frauds. Ordinary people with a little bit of knowledge also conduct fraud. In reality, a lot of customers end up sharing their personal information with fraudsters unknowingly. These fraudsters use this information to rack up huge credit card bills. In other cases, users end up committing fraud using their own information.  

Both of these types of fraud are called first-party fraud. 

Most of us assume that first-party fraud happens only in banks, but as telecom companies have entered the financial industry, so they’re also feeling the pinch. Debt collection agencies are leaking more profits and costs, trying to collect something that isn’t recoverable.

First-Party Fraud Affects Profitability

First-party fraud usually comprises 10% of the volume of credit card losses. These losses are also called bad debts. This huge risk often gets missed as it comes somewhere between the risk department, operations, and the fraud team. In other words, first-party fraud does not have an owner most of the time. 

Soiled fraud and collection departments can reduce the chances for fraudulent patterns to be discovered. While the relatively low volume of first-party fraud reduces its priority level, for some organizations, first-party fraud remains one of the biggest profit drains. 

In 2022, it is more vital than ever to take decisive actions and manage first-party fraud.

Why It’s Easy to Miss First-Party Fraud?

Traditional third-party fraud requires some kind of impersonation or stolen identity. Be it stolen credit card data, or someone taking over your identity. At some point, many victims of third-party fraud become aware of the crime when unknown transactions come up on their statements. 

Compared to third-party fraud, first-party fraud is often confused with credit risk problems. Accounts that don’t pay their debts are sent to collections for a progression of treatment. 

Unlike third-party fraud, the transactions happen with accurate information and they look like legit transactions. This makes first-party fraud much harder to spot. And in this way, first-party fraud can be eventually written off as it is uncollectible. This information is also sold to third-party external collection agencies.

Newer financial services providers are even more challenged in figuring out first-party fraud. Newcomers don’t have access to all the historical data that banks have to analyze which transactions are legit and which aren’t.

Be it an online bank, or a telecom service financing costly devices, all these organizations face similar challenges in fraud prevention.

Common Types of First-Party Fraud

There are different types of first-party frauds that organizations should know about:

1. Sleeper Fraud: It occurs when a fraudster gets their hands on a type of credit, and over time builds up a reputation. As they build trust with the service provider over months, they can take maximum advantage of cash and any goods with these cards. Once they’ve racked up a huge debt, they leave this information and move on to the next one.
2. Bust-Out Fraud: This type of fraud is also called hit-and-run fraud. It can happen in a type of financial service. It’s quick and sometimes easy, and credit cards and loans are the easiest targets. In some countries where cheques are in use or have slower clearing cycles, fraudsters can exploit these weaknesses to rack up a credit balance 10 times the normal limit. Then the fraudsters cash out before these transactions are even caught.

How Does First Party Fraud happen?

First-party fraud is highly opportunistic and it can be done on a small scale by a single fraudster or by a group of fraudsters. Both sleeper fraud and bust-out fraud can be conducted in an opportunistic fashion. 

Some of the first-party fraud schemes are executed in both ways. For example, in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, the highly fluid mobility of university students creates conditions that are perfect for fraud. 

In this type of fraud, fraudsters gangs have focused on out-of-country students to buy their ID data and bank account information as these students go back to their home countries. There are many potential victims, as only 10% of foreign students stay in their country. Almost 90% of students go back to their home countries, thus their information is ripe for exploitation. 

Fraud with student credential fraud often starts with criminal gangs advertising in student unions and social media. Sometimes they even infiltrate family WhatsApp groups just to get their hands on some quick cash.

While these offers may be tempting to cash-strapped students, the fraudsters have different intentions. With 1.3 million students in the EU, you can see why this group is one of the biggest targets for fraudsters.

Strategies for Fighting First-Party Fraud

The biggest challenge with first-party fraud is distinguishing between fake and real customers. So, what can businesses do? Here are some strategies to try fighting first-party fraud:

1. Learn to recognize the distinction between unintentional bad debt and intentional bad debt, or fraud. With the right type of analytics, patterns can start to become clear, and very evident. 
2. You need to accurately categorize fraud as fraud, instead of calling it a bad debt. These instances should be called first-party fraud or synthetic identity fraud. This will help you to begin identifying patterns and common traits in the schemes fraudsters use. 
3. Define clear rules and models and perform link analysis to analyze data for known fraud patterns. These common signs include phone numbers, names, email addresses, and other identifiers that fraudsters will use again and again to apply for loans, credit cards, accounts, and mobile subscriptions. 
4. Improve sign-up and onboarding processes by using these analytics. By doing this, you can monitor for links between declined applications for credit risk and new applications where the same data is used for application. 
5. If you don’t have enough evidence to mark a transaction as fraudulent, tag these accounts as suspicious accounts. Once an account is opened, and credit is extended, the account can be monitored more carefully for suspicious activity. Any sudden changes in account data can be a sign of fraudulent transactions about to happen.

Be Proactive With First Party Fraud

The rate of fraud is only increasing, so businesses need to be proactive in fraud prevention. For those fraudsters with established synthetic identities hidden in account portfolios, the high time for using these identities is now. 

At the same time, organizations that are keen to increase their customer base have had to increasingly look to digital channels, as face-to-face interactions have almost vanished. Increased criminal activity coupled with increased reliance on remote onboarding processes has made it harder to prevent fraud.

Businesses need to make sure that they act before fraudsters do.