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As Valentine’s Day approaches, hearts will melt, but some will inevitably be broken by romance scams. This season of love creates an opportune moment for scammers to prey on individuals feeling lonely or seeking connection. Financial institutions should take this time to warn customers about the heightened risks and encourage vigilance against fraud. In a tale as heart-wrenching as it is cautionary, a French woman named Anne was conned out of nearly $855,000 in a romance scam that lasted over a year. Believing she was communicating with Hollywood star Brad Pitt; Anne was manipulated by scammers who leveraged AI technology to impersonate the actor convincingly. Personalized messages, fabricated photos, and elaborate lies about financial needs made the scam seem credible. Anne’s story, though extreme, highlights the alarming prevalence and sophistication of romance scams in today’s digital age. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), nearly 70,000 Americans reported romance scams in 2022, with losses totaling $1.3 billion—an average of $4,400 per victim. These scams, which play on victims’ emotions, are becoming increasingly common and devastating, targeting individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Financial institutions have a crucial role in protecting their customers from these schemes. The lifecycle of a romance scam Romance scams follow a consistent pattern: Feigned connection: Scammers create fake profiles on social media or dating platforms using attractive photos and minimal personal details. Building trust: Through lavish compliments, romantic conversations, and fabricated sob stories, scammers forge emotional bonds with their targets. Initial financial request: Once trust is established, the scammer asks for small financial favors, often citing emergencies. Escalation: Requests grow larger, with claims of dire situations such as medical emergencies or legal troubles. Disappearance: After draining the victim’s funds, the scammer vanishes, leaving emotional and financial devastation in their wake. Lloyds Banking Group reports that men made up 52% of romance scam victims in 2023, though women lost more on average (£9,083 vs. £5,145). Individuals aged 55-64 were the most susceptible, while those aged 65-74 faced the largest losses, averaging £13,123 per person. Techniques scammers use Romance scammers are experts in manipulation. Common tactics include: Fabricated sob stories: Claims of illness, injury, or imprisonment. Investment opportunities: Offers to “teach” victims about investing. Military or overseas scenarios: Excuses for avoiding in-person meetings. Gift and delivery scams: Requests for money to cover fake customs fees. How financial institutions can help Banks and financial institutions are on the frontlines of combating romance scams. By leveraging technology and adopting proactive measures, they can intercept fraud before it causes irreparable harm. 1. Customer education and awareness Conduct awareness campaigns to educate clients about common scam tactics. Provide tips on recognizing fake profiles and unsolicited requests. Share real-life stories, like Anne’s, to highlight the risks. 2. Advanced data capture solutions Implement systems that gather and analyze real-time customer data, such as IP addresses, browsing history, and device usage patterns. Use behavioral analytics to detect anomalies in customer actions, such as hesitation or rushed transactions, which may indicate stress or coercion. 3. AI and machine learning Utilize AI-driven tools to analyze vast datasets and identify suspicious patterns. Deploy daily adaptive models to keep up with emerging fraud trends. 4. Real-time fraud interception Establish rules and alerts to flag unusual transactions. Intervene with personalized messages before transfers occur, asking “Do you know and trust this person?” Block transactions if fraud is suspected, ensuring customers’ funds are secure. Collaborating for greater impact Financial institutions cannot combat romance scams alone. Partnerships with social media platforms, AI companies, and law enforcement are essential. Social media companies must shut down fake profiles proactively, while regulatory frameworks should enable banks to share information about at-risk customers. Conclusion Romance scams exploit the most vulnerable aspects of human nature: the desire for love and connection. Stories like Anne’s underscore the emotional and financial toll these scams take on victims. However, with robust technological solutions and proactive measures, financial institutions can play a pivotal role in protecting their customers. By staying ahead of fraud trends and educating clients, banks can ensure that the pursuit of love remains a source of joy, not heartbreak. Learn more
As data breaches become an ever-growing threat to businesses, the role of employees in maintaining cybersecurity has never been more critical. Did you know that 82% of data breaches involve the human element1 , such as phishing, stolen credentials, or social engineering tactics? These statistics reveal a direct connection between employee identity theft and business vulnerabilities. In this blog, we’ll explore why protecting your employees’ identities is essential to reducing data breach risk, how employee-focused identity protection programs, and specifically employee identity protection, improve both cybersecurity and employee engagement, and how businesses can implement comprehensive solutions to safeguard sensitive data and enhance overall workforce well-being. The Rising Challenge: Data Breaches and Employee Identity Theft The past few years have seen an exponential rise in data breaches. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were 1,571 data compromises in the first half of 2024, impacting more than 1.1 billion individuals – a 490% increase year over year2. A staggering proportion of these breaches originated from compromised employee credentials or phishing attacks. Explore Experian's Employee Benefits Solutions The Link Between Employee Identity Theft and Cybersecurity Risks Phishing and Social EngineeringPhishing attacks remain one of the top strategies used by cybercriminals. These attacks often target employees by exploiting personal information stolen through identity theft. For example, a cybercriminal who gains access to an employee's compromised email or social accounts can use this information to craft realistic phishing messages, tricking them into divulging sensitive company credentials. Compromised Credentials as Entry PointsCompromised employee credentials were responsible for 16% of breaches and were the costliest attack vector, averaging $4.5 million per breach3. When an employee’s identity is stolen, it can give hackers a direct line to your company’s network, jeopardizing sensitive data and infrastructure. The Cost of DowntimeBeyond the financial impact, data breaches disrupt operations, erode customer trust, and harm your brand. For businesses, the average downtime from a breach can last several weeks – time that could otherwise be spent growing revenue and serving clients. Why Businesses Need to Prioritize Employee Identity Protection Protecting employee identities isn’t just a personal benefit – it’s a strategic business decision. Here are three reasons why identity protection for employees is essential to your cybersecurity strategy: 1. Mitigate Human Risk in Cybersecurity Employee mistakes, often resulting from phishing scams or misuse of credentials, are a leading cause of breaches. By equipping employees with identity protection services, businesses can significantly reduce the likelihood of stolen information being exploited by fraudsters and cybercriminals. 2. Boost Employee Engagement and Financial Wellness Providing identity protection as part of an employee benefits package signals that you value your workforce’s security and well-being. Beyond cybersecurity, offering such protections can enhance employee loyalty, reduce stress, and improve productivity. Employers who pair identity protection with financial wellness tools can empower employees to monitor their credit, secure their finances, and protect against fraud, all of which contribute to a more engaged workforce. 3. Enhance Your Brand Reputation A company’s cybersecurity practices are increasingly scrutinized by customers, stakeholders, and regulators. When you demonstrate that you prioritize not just protecting your business, but also safeguarding your employees’ identities, you position your brand as a leader in security and trustworthiness. Practical Strategies to Protect Employee Identities and Reduce Data Breach Risk How can businesses take actionable steps to mitigate risks and protect their employees? Here are some best practices: Offer Comprehensive Identity Protection Solutions A robust identity protection program should include: Real-time monitoring for identity theft Alerts for suspicious activity on personal accounts Data and device protection to protect personal information and devices from identity theft, hacking and other online threats Fraud resolution services for affected employees Credit monitoring and financial wellness tools Leading providers like Experian offer customizable employee benefits packages that provide proactive identity protection, empowering employees to detect and resolve potential risks before they escalate. Invest in Employee Education and Training Cybersecurity is only as strong as your least-informed employee. Provide regular training sessions and provide resources to help employees recognize phishing scams, understand the importance of password hygiene, and learn how to avoid oversharing personal data online. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) MFA adds an extra layer of security, requiring employees to verify their identity using multiple credentials before accessing sensitive systems. This can drastically reduce the risk of compromised credentials being misused. Partner with a Trusted Identity Protection Provider Experian’s suite of employee benefits solutions combines identity protection with financial wellness tools, helping your employees stay secure while also boosting their financial confidence. Only Experian can offer these integrated solutions with unparalleled expertise in both identity protection and credit monitoring. Conclusion: Identity Protection is the Cornerstone of Cybersecurity The rising tide of data breaches means that businesses can no longer afford to overlook the role of employee identity in cybersecurity. By prioritizing identity protection for employees, organizations can reduce the risk of costly breaches and also create a safer, more engaged, and financially secure workforce. Ready to protect your employees and your business? Take the next step toward safeguarding your company’s future. Learn more about Experian’s employee benefits solutions to see how identity protection and financial wellness tools can transform your workplace security and employee engagement. Learn more 1 2024 Experian Data Breach Response Guide 2 Identity Theft Resource Center. H1 2024 Data Breach Analysis 3 2023 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report
By definition, “Return on Investment” is simple: (The gain from an investment – The cost of the investment) _______________________________________________ The cost of the investment With such a simple definition, why do companies that develop fraud analytics and their customers have difficulty agreeing to move forward with new fraud models and tools? I believe the answer lies in the definition of the factors that make up the ROI equation: “The gain from an investment”- When it comes to fraud, most vendors and customers want to focus on minimizing fraud losses. But what happens when fraud losses are not large enough to drive change? To adopt new technology it’s necessary for the industry to expand its view of the “gain.” One way to expand the “gain” is to identify other types of savings and opportunities that aren’t currently measured as fraud losses. These include: Cost of other tools – Data returned by fraud tools can be used to resolve Red Flag compliance discrepancies and help fraud analysts manage high-risk accounts. By making better use of this information, downstream costs can be avoided. Other types of “bad” organizations are beginning to look at the similarities among fraud and credit losses. Rather than identifying a fraud trend and searching for a tool to address it, some industry leaders are taking a different approach — let the fraud tool identify the high-risk accounts, and then see what types of behavior exist in that population. This approach helps organizations create the business case for constant improvement and also helps them validate the way in which they currently categorize losses. To increase cross sell opportunities – Focus on the “good” populations. False positives aren’t just filtered out of the fraud review work flow, they are routed into other work flows where relationships can be expanded.
By: Heather Grover In my previous entry, I covered how fraud prevention affected the operational side of new DDA account opening. To give a complete picture, we need to consider fraud best practices and their impact on the customer experience. As earlier mentioned, the branch continues to be a highly utilized channel and is the place for “customized service.” In addition, for retail banks that continue to be the consumer's first point of contact, fraud detection is paramount IF we should initiate a relationship with the consumer. Traditional thinking has been that DDA accounts are secured by deposits, so little risk management policy is applied. The reality is that the DDA account can be a fraud portal into the organization’s many products. Bank consolidations and lower application volumes are driving increased competition at the branch – increased demand exists to cross-sell consumers at the point of new account opening. As a result, banks are moving many fraud checks to the front end of the process: know your customer and Red Flag guideline checks are done sooner in the process in a consolidated and streamlined fashion. This is to minimize fraud losses and meet compliance in a single step, so that the process for new account holders are processed as quickly through the system as possible. Another recent trend is the streamlining of a two day batch fraud check process to provide account holders with an immediate and final decision. The casualty of a longer process could be a consumer who walks out of your branch with a checkbook in hand – only to be contacted the next day to tell that his/her account has been shut down. By addressing this process, not only will the customer experience be improved with increased retention, but operational costs will also be reduced. Finally, relying on documentary evidence for ID verification can be viewed by some consumers as being onerous and lengthy. Use of knowledge based authentication can provide more robust authentication while giving assurance of the consumer’s identity. The key is to use a solution that can authenticate “thin file” consumers opening DDA accounts. This means your out of wallet questions need to rely on multiple data sources – not just credit. Interactive questions can give your account holders peace of mind that you are doing everything possible to protect their identity – which builds the customer relationship…and your brand.
By: Heather Grover In past client and industry talks, I’ve discussed the increasing importance of retail branches to the growth strategy of the bank. Branches are the most utilized channel of the bank and they tend to be the primary tool for relationship expansion. Given the face-to-face nature, the branch historically has been viewed to be a relatively low-risk channel needing little (if any) identity verification – there are less uses of robust risk-based authentication or out of wallet questions. However, a now well-established fraud best practice is the process of doing proper identity verification and fraud prevention at the point of DDA account opening. In the current environment of declining credit application volumes and approval across the enterprise, there is an increased focus on organic growth through deposits. Doing proper vetting during DDA account openings helps bring your retail process closer in line with the rest of your organization’s identity theft prevention program. It also provides assurance and confidence that the customer can now be cross-sold and up-sold to other products. A key industry challenge is that many of the current tools used in DDA are less mature than in other areas of the organization. We see few clients in retail that are using advanced fraud analytics or fraud models to minimize fraud – and even fewer clients are using them to automate manual processes – even though more than 90 percent of DDA accounts are opened manually. A relatively simple way to improve your branch operations is to streamline your existing ID verification and fraud prevention tool set: 1. Are you using separate tools to verify identity and minimize fraud? Many providers offer solutions that can do both, which can help minimize the number of steps required to process a new account; 2. Is the solution realtime? To the extent that you can provide your new account holders with an immediate and final decision, the less time and effort you’ll spend after they leave the branch finalizing the decision; 3. Does the solution provide detail data for manual review? This can help save valuable analyst time and provider costs by limiting the need to do additional searches. In my next post, we’ll discuss how fraud prevention in DDA impacts the customer experience.