JAKARTA - Today, Visa Inc., the world's leader in digital payments, released the Holiday Edition Threats Report, which anticipates an increase in fraudulent activities during the holiday season in all transactions, both with a card-present (CP) or online (card-not-present/CNP).
This new report identifies fraud tactics that are expected to occur until January 2024 due to a rapid increase in e-commerce and direct spending activities in the retail and hospitality segments. Visa also launched a list of 10 good habits in safe and secure shopping that consumers can follow.
Data and transactions from time to time show that fraudsters are targeting consumers during the holiday season. In fact, Visa data shows that from the top merchant category that is the target of fraud, the level of fraud during the 2022 holiday season increases by 11 percent compared to outside the holiday season. This figure is an 8 percent increase compared to the previous year in the same period.
The Holiday Edition Threats Report Visa report warns that fraudsters will seek to exploit increased consumer interest and urgency to find unique offerings and gifts that are often found in holiday season promos. Several important findings from the report include:
Digital Skimming: Increasing online shopping also opens up greater opportunities for fraudsters to break into account data from e-commerce traders and make money from there.
Phishing and Social Engineering: Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances over the past year enable fraudsters to customize phishing campaigns making it difficult for consumers to recognize fraud. Fraudsters also create phishing websites, often using malvertising (dangerous advertising) and other banned search engine optimization (SEO) tactics on retail or service websites to lure victims.
ATM / POS Skimming: With the increase in visitor traffic at physical and ATM stores, fraudsters will most likely target ATM and Point of Sale (POS) terminals with skimming attacks.
OTP Bypass Fraud and Provisioning Fraud: Visa identifies many fraudulent schemes with one-time-passcode (OTP) to gain access to cardholder accounts. In this scheme, fake messages requesting OTP are sent to victims regarding the desired purchase.
Physical Theft: Fraudsters can try to steal payment cards and/or physical phones from suspicious consumers in crowded retail stores, shopping centers, or parking lots.
"Criminals have been preparing throughout the year to take action in holiday seasons, including at the end of the year, taking advantage of increasing consumer activity and negligence in shopping," said Riko Abdurrahman, President Director of Visa Indonesia, Monday, December 11.
"At Visa, we are committed to security and reliability. We are also committed to monitoring threats on our network for 24 hours a day, even during the busiest times of the year. Consumers can feel calm in the holiday season because Visa's team of experts works all the time to prevent fraud. Of course, the first defense is with each consumer, so let's remain careful in shopping physically and online," he added.
Some Habits To Help Consumers Shop Safely
Some of the habits of Visa can help consumers shop in the holiday season to stay safe. Things to pay attention to include:
Check Re-reputation and Authenticity of Stores: Choose a trusted store and that you already know well. If you're considering buying from a store where you've never transacted, do research to check its reputation and authenticity.
• Amankan Informasi Pribadi Anda: Pastikan situs web menggunakan teknologi yang aman. Saat melakukan checkout, alamat situs web harus dimulai dengan 'https://'. Huruf 's' adalah singkatan dari secure yang berarti data Anda dienkripsi dan dikirim melalui koneksi yang aman.
Avoid Public Wi-Fi for Shopping: Public Wi-Fi networks are often insecure, making it easier for hackers to steal your information. Always use a secure private internet connection when you make purchases.
Watch Out For Too Interesting Offers: Offers on websites or enter emails often sound too good to be true, especially when the price is very low for hard-to-get goods. Consumers should be suspicious of such offers.
Visa, security and reliability are the top priorities of the year. In a five-year period, the company has invested more than $10 billion in technology, including to reduce fraud and improve network security. More than a thousand specialists are dedicated to protecting Visa networks from malware, zero-day attacks, and threats from people every day and throughout the year.
As a result, in the first six months of 2023, Visa has proactively helped block a 30 billion US dollar scam, thus helping many people who don't even know they have been exposed to fraudulent transactions. Consumers need to stay alert during this holiday season, taking into account where they shop and who they share information with to stay safe.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
