Scams have become the favoured and most effective tool used by cybercriminals across the European and Middle Eastern region. And according to behavioural biometric intelligence and digital fraud detection outfit BioCatch, Authorised Push Payments (APP) scams are the number cause of fraud losses in the UK.
BioCatch researchers found that 52% of reported 2022 fraud cases in digital retail banking were due to scams.
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BioCatch digital banking fraud trends report-key takeaways
- 12% of all fraud in EMEA are Remote Access Trojan (RAT) attacks.
- Over 70% of RAT scams originate via a phone call.
- Elderly banking customers are unequally targeted by scams leveraging RAT attacks.
- BioCatch received first reports of fraud cases in Spain that use stolen devices, a tactic which appears to be spreading across Europe.
The report also highlights that Authorised Push Payments (APP) scams caused the greatest losses. Banks are now moving quickly to address with the introduction of new UK legislation from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR).
“It is tragic when anyone is scammed and suffers the associated humiliation and financial losses, especially when those victims are afraid, trusting, and vulnerable,” said Gadi Mazor, CEO of BioCatch.
“Our report emphasises the need for financial institutions to recognise the pivot cybercriminals have made away from attacking systems to now focus on humans. We as a community of banks, governing bodies, and vendors must work together to devise solutions and regulations that protect our customers privacy and financial assets. This is possible and we must act quickly.”
The report is available for download via this link.
