Digital fraud attack rates recorded in the LexisNexis® Digital Identity Network® platform continued climbing in 2023, increasing 19% year-over-year, maintaining a trajectory first noted in the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report 2022. Organizations operating in North America (up 43% YOY) or in the ecommerce sector (up 59% YOY) sustained the greatest increase in fraud attack rates.

Gaming and gambling operators reported a 103% increase in bot volume, seemingly drawing bots away from other industries. Unsophisticated bots still serve a purpose, providing bad actors an efficient means to test data either for resale or direct attack. Bot traffic followed a surge of legitimate consumers flocking to gaming and gambling operators in multiple countries with modernizing regulations.

Fraud thrives in changing circumstance, such as the widespread and ongoing adoption of new technologies. The initial application of generative AI to fraud attacks in 2023 gives cause for concern now, but will likely be regarded as unsophisticated with the hindsight of a few more years’ innovation. Take, for example, how fraudsters continue to hone their illicit exploitation of instant payment systems as a vehicle to target consumers via authorized payment fraud (“scams”). As more consumers adopt instant payments, and as more instant payments platforms enable international transfers, fraudsters will likely continue to exploit the payments channel

Scams have grown into a pandemic, leading to significant regulatory activity around the world in 2023. Many regulators focused on operational or technical requirements to defend against scams, likely waiting to see the results of some countries’ focus on liability and reimbursement, beginning with the UK. Collaboration is growing around the world, including regulated data-sharing initiatives in Brazil and Hong Kong, and collaborative consortiums beginning in the United Arab Emirates and in Singapore.

Every year, the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report illustrates the power of organizations collaborating across international and industry boundaries. Reports of confirmed and suspected fraud and abuse from seemingly unrelated corners of the global market help to improve all participants’ confidence in clearing the path for trusted consumers and transactions. We thank the many organizations whose anonymized contributions provide the basis for this report, and for the tenacity to continue making our world a safer place, together.

In this report you will find:

  • Global Highlights: January-December 2023
  • Global Transaction Patterns in Numbers
    • Human-Initiated Attacks Proliferate While Bots Target Gamers and Gambler
  • Global Attack Patterns in Numbers
    • Human-Initiated Attacks Proliferate While Bots Target Gamers and Gamblers
  • Identity Abuse Index
    • North America Drives the Global Index Higher
  • Global Networked Account Takeover Fraud
    • Fraudsters Share Compromised Credentials and Align on Phishing Scam Techniques
  • Fraud Types from a Client Perspective
    • Focus on 3rd Party Account Takeover Grows
  • Fraud Classifications by Region and Industry
    • Account Takeover and Bonus Abuse Proliferation
  • Bot Sophistication Grows
  • Scams and Scam Centers
  • Mule Account Classifications
  • Determining Risk Associated With Beneficiary Accounts

Source:  LexisNexis Risk Solutions