KARACHI: Visa Inc, the world leader in digital payments, shared an updated look at how fraud has evolved since the height of the pandemic, with criminals simultaneously targeting online and offline vulnerabilities as our daily lives return to a blend of in-person and e-commerce experiences.

“As in-person commerce returns to pre-pandemic levels, crooks are back to exploiting the physical points of vulnerability in stores, while continuing to capitalize on e-commerce through malware, ransomware and phishing attacks, among others,” said Neil Fernandes, Head of Risk in NALP and GCC regions at Visa.

Two new pieces of global research – the latest Visa Biannual Threats Report and an MIT Technology Review Insights study “Moving Money in a Digital World,” released on October 6 in partnership with Visa – highlight new and returning threats to the post-pandemic economy.

Digital commerce, crypto users are rich targets for innovative fraudsters. Still, the digital commerce environment – vastly accelerated by the pandemic– remains the richest target for cyber criminals.

Nearly three-fourths of fraud and data breach cases investigated by Visa’s Global Risk team involved e-commerce merchants – often social engineering and ransomware attacks. Digital skimming attacks targeting e-commerce platforms and third-party code integrations are common.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022