Christmas is approaching and shopping is in full swing – but so are fraudsters. Visa has now released a new report ”View the 2024 Holiday Threats Report” (1) which maps the five most common ways that card fraud occurs during the biggest shopping period of the year. With Black Friday, Christmas shopping and mid-week sales, it is high season for consumption – and fraud attempts.
The report shows that fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They are taking advantage of the increase in e-commerce and physical shopping to steal card details and money through advanced methods such as phishing, fake online stores and malicious apps. The number of fake merchant websites has almost tripled in the last four months compared to the previous period.
Also the Swedish Crime Prevention Council (Brå) report ''Fraud against private individuals 2023' (2) highlights the seriousness of fraud, particularly through social engineering, where fraudsters exploit trust to trick victims out of money or personal information. This type of fraud accounted for a whopping 46 percent of criminal profits in 2022, despite only making up 19 percent of reported fraud crimes.
Shown report identifies the five most common methods:
- Net fishing (phishing) and social manipulation
- Fake online stores
- Travel-related scams
- Malicious apps with a Christmas theme
- Physical theft of cards and phones
''Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but there are simple steps you can take to protect yourself. Be aware of suspicious links and offers that seem too good to be true, and always check that the website you are shopping on is secure'', says Fredrik Lindqvist, Head of Sweden for Visa.
Visa's report provides insight into a hidden world of organized crime that operates in the shadows of the holiday shopping season. Fraudsters are adept at exploiting consumers' stressed state and holiday focus.
1. Show 2024 Holiday Threats Report (See related media below)
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