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Education
ChapterTitle
StreetSmarts SM
Trending fraud in 2024
By Nick Cucci Family fraud comes in many forms. It might include
Fluid Pay LLC signing up for a service under a relative's name or di-
rectly stealing money from a relative's accounts. At
any active players are involved in the grow- the end of the day, the people who are closest to you,
ing battlefield of fraud. On the victim side, often the ones you trust the most, can put you at sig-
there are individuals, businesses and law nificant risk of being a fraud victim.
M enforcement looking to navigate increas- • Customer chargebacks: For the longest time, busi-
ingly sophisticated attacks. On the criminal side, there are nesses and customers have had a fairly even balance
individuals, tools and even organizations at work to carry when it comes to interactions. Unfortunately, the
out high-level scams. Since this is the case, the nature of digital nature of many modern stores is making it
fraud is always changing. In this article I'll explore fraud much easier for companies to be placed at risk. In-
trends to look out for in 2024. deed, ecommerce fraud directed at companies was
expected to pass $48 billion in 2023 (see http://tinyurl.
Fraud is a back-and-forth struggle between those who com/4j6x6m4b).
are victims of fraud and those who are perpetrators of When using chargebacks fraudulently, customers will
various fraud schemes. As we, in the payments and fraud
prevention arena, learn more about how to rise up and purchase something from an online retailer. Even
when they receive the item, they will go to their bank
navigate fraud attacks, criminals also adapt their prac-
tices to find new ways to overcome our efforts. In many and claim that the charge wasn't accurate or they
didn't receive their product. The bank will then take
cases, they devise new fraud practices that can have even the money back on behalf of the customer—even if the
larger impacts on their victims than earlier methods. customer is lying. This is impacting businesses of all
Common fraud trends sizes, but there is no denying it hits small business
owners much harder.
This year, fraud continues to take a digital turn. The
world is heavily focused on digital tools for every need. • Shopping bots: Popular products have always
gained significant attention from customers and re-
From social media to online banking, there are plenty sellers. Unfortunately, the modern world has learned
of digital spaces for fraudsters to exploit. In fact, global to weaponize this interest. We first saw its potential
digital fraud losses were projected to meet or pass $343 when people would wait in line for hours at a time to
billion globally last year (see http://tinyurl.com/mpsv3wy6).
acquire something like the new iPhone. Now, with
digital offerings, bots are doing what no person can.
Following are several online and in-person fraud trends Shopping bots are being used to target launches of ex-
to watch out for:. clusive products, like concert tickets, making it pos-
• Family fraud: As difficult as it is to fathom, the real- sible for bots to buy a high volume of a product before
ity is that family fraud is an enduring type of fraud real people can. The owners of these bots then turn
that puts people at risk every year. With each new around and sell the products at a huge markup, creat-
day, more people are deceiving their families to ac- ing a far worse experience for customers.
quire money, privileges and more. The worst part?
Relatives often don't expect it.
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