4 Tools to prevent digital fraud
BLOG POST JUL 24, 2023 | 7 MIN
Contents
The arrival of the digital age has brought with it a large number of advantages for all of humanity, such as the internet or cryptocurrencies. However, it has also allowed the evolution of criminal strategies and, thus, fraud attempts that moved from analog to digital.
Because of this new reality of online crime, we will talk about four tools to prevent digital fraud today. We hope you’ll use them to unlock borderless growth most safely and reliably as possible.
If your company spends more on coffee than on cybersecurity. It will most likely be hacked…
What is digital fraud?
Let’s start by laying the foundations on what experts have defined as digital fraud and then provide you with the necessary tools to prevent it. Well, with an issue as important as cybersecurity, understanding what’s the danger to find a solution is essential.
In a nutshell, digital fraud is nothing more than the use of a computer and the various means available on the internet by criminals to deceive or harm a company or person to obtain monetary gain.
And we are not talking about little things because, according to data from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), 5% of all income in the business sector was lost due to online fraud in 2020. In addition, an average of $145,000 was stolen during the period, according to ACFE.
Mastercard teams up with Microsoft to help tackle digital fraud https://t.co/BvZMUn3Unr
— OnMSFT.com (@onmsft) April 25, 2022
So, it seems like an excellent option to start investing more in cybersecurity for your business and end-user – and a little less in coffee, right?
What are the types of online fraud?
With this in mind, the next question we might ask is this: What methods do criminals use to perpetuate online fraud?
Unfortunately, there is a myriad of types of digital fraud. And as technology rapidly progresses, so do new methods for hackers and criminals to get past business security barriers.
Among the most common, we have:
- Phishing: The identical copy of emails, text messages, and web pages created by criminals to obtain private data, corporate secrets, keywords, bank accounts, and more.
- Identity theft: The use of false or edited IDs to create fake accounts, apply for loans, or use a company’s services for criminal purposes.
- Theft of end-user information: By convincing victims to provide their passwords, criminals log in and steal money or information from unsuspecting users, such as credit card numbers and social media passwords.
(That's how easily someone can steal information from your business or end-user)
The numbers of Digital Fraud keep growing
But that’s not all, since the number of digital frauds hasn’t stopped increasing year after year since the internet arrived in 1990. According to a PwC survey, 51% of 1300 firms surveyed in 53 different countries had lost money to digital fraud in 2020, while in 2021, that number rose to 57%.
Yet, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received 1.4 million complaints for identity theft and 2.8 million for digital fraud in 2021, for nearly 42,000 million dollars of lost capital.
Investing less in coffee seems more and more tempting, doesn’t it?
Four tools to keep your users, and business, safe
We have finally reached the main topic of this content. Nevertheless, these four tools could’ve gone unnoticed without presenting the monetary fraud problem and its impact as a whole. However, we are sure this won’t be the case now.
1) Identify weak spots:
Things that digital fraudsters can use in your business products and cause monetary or legal damage to your customers or company.
For example, from the information provided in this content, you know that a large part of the cyber fraud attempts will come from the same users to whom you give access to your platform.
Do you have the tools to check if your users are trusted, that their documents are not false and that they are using their true identity?
2) Consolidate and centralize your customer data:
One of the most common problems with firms that decide to verify their users manually and on their own is the inability to track their user’s behavior and generate alerts quickly enough to prevent online fraud attempts.
Therefore, it’s crucial to have an ally that evolves as fast as the methods that criminals use and allows you to scale in the same proportion as your business needs, not the contrary.
3) Grant a safe login for your users:
As stated above, the method most used by criminals is to steal access codes from end users.
So, it’s recommended to use logins with biometric technology. With this, no matter who has a user’s access codes, you will have nothing to worry about if their face or fingerprint doesn’t match your records.
4) Know your customer:
Many headaches disappear when you ideally know who your user, client, or worker is. In addition, you’ll have more time and resources at your disposal that can be invested in further product development.
Although it may sound very cliché, one of the main actions is ensuring that the people who work with you, or potential new customers who will use your products, are trustworthy. That’s why it’s essential to verify their criminal record, check that their phone number or email doesn’t pose a risk of fraud and if their IP and GPS location match.
My message to companies that think they haven’t been targeted by fraud or hackers is: You’re not looking hard enough.
—James Snook.
All in one tool?
Fraud prevention has to be taken seriously as the digital world continues to accelerate towards growth and progress, and fintech, cryptocurrency, lending, and even banking companies are increasingly part of the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people.
In addition, in an increasingly globalized world where people from Argentina can use a solution developed in Mexico to Spain, it surges a complicated and labyrinthine underworld of regulations and compliance issues, becoming another factor of headaches for most companies, regardless of their size.
However, with MetaMap, you will have everything in a single tool, not just a solution that will help you fight digital fraud or scam attempts against your business, such as the following merits:
- Location Intelligence: Through GPS technology and IP verification you will be able to know the exact location of your user and limit access to your business by geographic zones.
- Biometric Verification: With this merit you’ll not only be able to verify that your user’s face matches their identity documents, but also compare it with government data sources.
- Document verification: Make sure that the documents uploaded by your users are true and haven’t been modified. Also, verify that they’re not on any watchlist worldwide.
- More than +25 fully customizable merits to meet your business needs.
At MetaMap, we have the experience and all the necessary tools for your business to comply with KYC and AML regulations, both locally and internationally, depending on the countries where you want to provide your services.
So, what are you waiting for to join the hundreds of companies who have joined MetaMap to prevent digital fraud? Get a free trial of our product now!
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