The fraud challenges facing businesses today
To start off, several participants agreed that account takeovers (ATOs) were their primary concern. They had seen an increase in ATOs over the last year, with attacks getting more sophisticated. Some executives also found phishing emails to be a massive problem and spoke about the difficulties they faced in identifying what is a phishing scam and what’s not.
An executive from a food delivery app mentioned they face challenges when it comes to GPS spoofing, promo abuse, and payment fraud. Other participants were quick to agree, with one executive sharing their experience with fake accounts being used to exploit their refund and promo policies. An executive from a video streaming app added that their biggest problem was ad fraud. They found fighting fraud to be a never-ending whack-a-mole game.
The evolution of technology in the fight against fraud
Conversation then shifted towards how technology has advanced to help online businesses in stopping fraud. One executive noted how fraud has evolved from being banner ads on shady websites to now being present in every facet of advertising, with the exception of television.
An executive from a ride-hailing company pointed out how technology, such as OTPs, has advanced to help in securing user accounts. Participants also discussed the importance of link analysis and artificial intelligence in a fraud prevention strategy.
While fraud prevention strategies are imperative given the current threat climate, participants agreed that the balance between stopping fraud and maintaining a seamless customer experience was a real challenge. An executive from a food delivery app also spoke about how while technology is empowering companies to fight fraud, fraudsters have access to the same technology which is leading to more advanced fraud attacks.
The future of fraud
Towards the end of the discussion, executives shared their predictions on what new types of fraud they expected to see in the future. One executive felt that it would be difficult to predict, and would be dependent on what the advancement of technology would look like. They said that there’s no ending to new fraud types and the key is to be proactive rather than reactive.
An executive from a video streaming app predicted fraud in the authentication space to explode. The evolution of artificial intelligence has given rise to AI being used for deepfake technology, which is then used to bypass authentication methods.
To round off the discussion, participants spoke about how businesses need to constantly evolve themselves to differentiate between normal and malicious activities. They agreed that it’s vital for online businesses to keep asking themselves the question, how do I identify something as fraudulent? Given the expanding threat landscape, it’s important for businesses to leverage real-time risk intelligence to stay one step ahead of fraudsters.
