Security News > 2022 > April > Consumer fraud tripled in the last two years

Reported cases of consumer fraud more than tripled in the years 2020-2021 from prior years, finds a new report by Accenture, presenting a growing challenge for public safety agencies to find new strategies to counter the trend.

The report compiled data from eight developed nations on consumer fraud, defined as any fraud directly targeting citizens and excluding fraud targeting government agencies and companies.

"Our analysis revealed the cost of consumer fraud during the pandemic exceeded the level seen over six years prior to 2020," said James Slessor, Accenture's global lead for public safety.

The report includes scenarios forecasting consumer fraud rates over the next five years.

Under the most optimistic scenario, the annual growth rate of consumer fraud would fall to the pre-pandemic level of 6.8%. The most pessimistic scenario projects continued growth at the rate seen during the pandemic of more than 22%. "We found that approximately 7% of the population across the countries we studied were affected by consumer fraud in the years preceding the pandemic, and that will increase by 2027 to 17% under the most optimistic scenario and 24% under the pessimistic outlook," said Slessor.

Areas of operational response to consumer fraud fall into three categories: collect and analyze intelligence, detect and investigate incidents of fraud, and prevent and disrupt attempts before fraud occurs.

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