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Enterprise Security Magazine | Monday, July 27, 2020
New research conducted by TransUnions Consumer Financial Hardship studies found that phishing is the top digital fraud scheme worldwide related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FREMONT, CA: Amidst consumers reporting being targeted with digital COVID-19 schemes globally, 27 percent said they were hit with pandemic-themed phishing scams. To help prevent identity fraud from phishing, TransUnion has announced new additions to its Document Verification solution.
"From the impacts of phishing and other well documented COVID-19 scams like unemployment fraud, it is clear that fraudsters have the data and increasing opportunities to create synthetic identities and utilize stolen identities," says senior vice president of Global Fraud & Identity Solutions at TransUnion, Shai Cohen. "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."
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To enhance and understand the impacts of COVID-19 on consumers, TransUnion surveyed 7,384 adults in Canada, Hong Kong, Colombia, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. between June 30 and July 6, 2020. They asked the consumers if they were targeted by digital COVID-19 fraud and, if so, which digital fraud scheme(s) related to COVID-19 were targeted.
"Although the schemes may vary by country, a new approach to identity verification that supplements traditional authentication methods is needed to defend against their impact," states Cohen. "The key is creating a friction-right experience where consumers are confident they are dealing with a legitimate organization or business."
TransUnion Augmentation to Combat Identity Fraud
With fake identities being easily available via phishing attacks and other methods, TransUnion recently stretched the global reach of its Document Verification solution. Verification verifies a consumer's identity in faceless and in-person channels by legalizing a government-issued identification document such as a passport or driver's license.
"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," states Bala Kumar, vice president of product management, Global Fraud & Identity Solutions at TransUnion. "Despite these threats, consumers expect that organizations will protect their identities, and enable secure but still convenient digital experiences. TransUnions 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."
Document Verification is a portion of IDVision with iovation, TransUnion flagship identity verification, consumer authentication, and fraud prevention solution suite, which unites personal and digital data into one of the most comprehensive data identity platforms the world. As a portion of the IDVision with iovation suite, Document Verification adds robust verification of government IDs to existing capabilities that can validate a consumer by leveraging TransUnions general intelligence about consumer records, device behavior, and if fraud has previously been associated with a person or device.
"Given the digital transformation that’s been accelerated by the recent pandemic, it’s more important than ever to secure trust in faceless channels with a simple consumer experience by reducing the need for businesses to manually review transactions," said Shirley Inscoe, senior analyst at technology analyst firm Aite Group.
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