Mobile app fraud continues to be a successful strategy for fraudsters, and likewise, its occurrence continues to rise.
According to a report from online fraud detection vendor BioCatch, the rate of mobile banking usage increased to 73% in 2023.
Unsurprisingly, more users rely on their mobile devices for banking functions. Fraudsters gravitate towards this channel, and cybercriminals go where the people are. As a result of this increased usage, Biocatch noted a dramatic rise in fraud schemes involving mobile devices. Compared to other types of fraud, the mobile fraud rate rose from 47% in 2022 to 61% in 2023.
We expect this trend to continue as mobile adoption rises and mobile banking becomes consumers’ preferred approach.
What Are Fraudsters After?
· User data theft: The bad actor desires login credentials, personally identifiable information (PII), purchase history, credit card numbers, search data, corporate records, etc. Any valuable information that can be sold on the Dark Web or utilized to gain access to another application is a fraudster’s target.
· Abuse of restricted functionalities: When a fraudster deceives the user into granting permissions or uses stolen credentials, they gain the ability to perform actions on an application that would otherwise be restricted. A fraudster sending money with a banking app or opening new bank accounts are examples of this mobile app fraud goal.
· Market Disruption: A potential goal of mobile app fraudsters is to manipulate user or advertising data to create a misleading impression in the marketplace. For instance, a “device ID reset marathon” could deplete the advertising budget of a competing app by inundating it with illegitimate clicks.