Digital Fraud Coming From Namibia Spikes in Q2, Counter to Global Trend

The rate of suspected digital fraud attempts from Namibia in Q2 2022 increased by 36% compared to the same period last year, compared to a -14% decline shown globally. TransUnion’s (NYSE:TRU) quarterly fraud analysis showed that the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts originating from Namibia decreased across several sectors, but showed significant year-on-year (YoY) increases in the financial services and gambling industries.

 TransUnion’s data on fraud against businesses is based on intelligence from billions of transactions and more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in its flagship identity proofing, risk-based authentication and fraud analytics solution suite – TransUnion TruValidate™.

 The global insurance industry saw a YoY suspected digital fraud attempt rate increase of 159% in Q2 2022, while the global logistics sector increased by 13%. For transactions originating from Namibia, the industry that saw the biggest increase in the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts was financial services, which saw a massive increase of 229% YoY. The other industry to see a big increase in the rate of suspected digital fraud coming from Namibia was gambling, which increased by 179% YoY.

 “We have observed interesting trends in the first half of 2022 with suspected fraudulent activity in the insurance industry continuing to be elevated,” said Shai Cohen, senior vice president of global fraud solutions at TransUnion. “In recent years, we’ve seen fraudsters shift their industry focus each quarter. At this time, we believe the insurance industry is seeing more ‘soft fraud’ because some consumers may be representing their policies incorrectly in an effort to save money, especially in a high inflation environment that places more pressure on their wallets.”

Year-on-Year Growth Rates of Digital Fraud Attempts (from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022)

 Globally, industries seeing the largest declines in the rate of suspected digital fraudulent activity from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022 included gaming (-63%), travel and leisure (-28%), and retail (-28%). TransUnion observed the largest declines from Namibia-based transactions in travel and leisure (-39%), retail (-9%) and communities, which includes online forums and dating sites, at -9%.

 “The focus across industry has been on identifying more of the good transactions and customers to allow them to pass with less friction,” said Amritha Reddy, Head of Fraud at TransUnion Africa. “Strong fraud and authentication practices decrease false positives and focus fraud-fighting resources on the minority of interactions that warrant scrutiny. By reducing the pool of manual reviews and customer interrogations, organizations can dramatically reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve the overall customer experience.”

For worldwide and regional breakdowns around how much the suspected digital fraud attempt rate recently changed, what types of fraud are most prevalent in certain industries and more, please download the infographic.