Shufti Pro’s ID Fraud Report 2021 Spotlights 3% Increase in Scam Rate
CANARY WHARF, UK — Feb. 21, 2022 — Globally acclaimed identity verification service provider, Shufti Pro, revealed new data in a recently published Global ID Fraud Report 2021 which possesses insights from extensive research of 11 months of verification. The report disclosed the changing fraudulent activities and advanced manipulation techniques that the company experienced in 2021. Industry experts from Shufti Pro have also made fraud predictions that will threaten the corporate sector in 2022.
The constant rise in ID and financial fraud each year causes major problems for both businesses and customers. In 2021 alone, Shufti Pro encountered 33% of tampered ID document fraud attempts. Cameroon, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan were the primary targets of imposters with biometric fraud attempts surpassing 50% in 2021. The major reasons that caused the increase in fraud highlighted by the report were counterfeit documents, MRZ manipulations, and imitated security features.
COVID-19 pandemic has further fueled the fire as the report found that the scam rate recorded in 2020 was approximately 21% while in 2021, even though the physical restrictions began to lift, the overall fraud rate increased by a whopping 3%. Pandemic and recurring lockdowns have further benefitted the fraudsters and they fully targeted businesses and customers in the holiday season. Impersonation scams, synthetic ID fraud, account takeover, and chargebacks were some of the most encountered fraud attempts this holiday season.
“We are surprised to see the remarkable turn of fraudsters from simple manipulation of identity documents to tech-driven tampering to dodge identity verification,” said Victor Fredung, the CEO of Shufti Pro. “As we move on to 2022, I would advise businesses in every industry to employ robust mechanisms to combat identity thieves and financial criminals.”
The key takeaways from the report include:
- Around 30% of the phishing emails sent every day are opened by victims and 12% of them click on the malicious link given. Considering the growing trends of fraud, it is observed that phishing attacks will be greatly used by fraudsters to carry out illegal activities
- Millions were laundered through virtual assets in 2021 and considering the fraud cases it is predicted that crypto and NFT-based criminal activities will increase significantly in the coming years
- The trends in remote working will provide fraudsters an edge to easily target companies that are employing remote working, especially during a pandemic
About Shufti Pro
AI-powered digital identity verification solution provider, Shufti Pro, offers KYC, KYB, and AML services in 230+ countries and territories. Given the ability to verify 3000+ documents, Shufti Pro authenticates documents in 150+ languages with an accuracy rate of 98.67%. Through its AI-driven efficient verification services, the company aims to create a secure digital marketplace devoid of identity theft and other fraudulent activities.
For more information,
Damien Martin
Marketing Executive | Shufti Pro
+44 1225290329
