33% Surge in Financial Fraud Attempts During #COVID19 Lockdown

from www.infosecurity-magazine.com

Financial fraud attempts rose by 33% in April as the UK entered lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new analysis from Experian and the National Hunter Fraud Prevention Service has revealed. Fraudsters targeted a myriad of financial products, including current and savings accounts, as they sought to take advantage of the disruption to both businesses and their customers brought about by the virus outbreak. Across all financial products, fraud rates increased by a third when compared with previous monthly averages. The largest increase was in fraudulent car and other asset finance applications, which saw a rise of 181%, followed by current accounts (35%) and then saving accounts (28%), according to Experian.