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2022
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TransUnion Fraud Study Reports Decreased Digital Fraud Originating in the Philippines

Despite a drop in digital fraud rates, certain industries remain prime targets for scammers

Philippines, Aug. 18, 2022 – Findings from the latest TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) quarterly fraud analysis  revealed that the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts originating from the Philippines decreased 11% year-on-year from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022. The largest declines from Philippine-based transactions were seen in gaming (-53%) and financial services (-16%). Communities such as online dating sites and forums (-14%), retail (-14%), and travel and leisure (-3%) also saw declines.

The drop in the rate of suspected digital fraud in the country was consistent with the decline in global digital fraud observed within the same timeframe.

TransUnion came to its conclusions about fraud against businesses 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 percent or rate of suspected digital fraud attempts are those that TruValidate customers either denied or reviewed due to fraudulent indicators compared to all transactions that were assessed for fraud.

Suspected digital fraud attempts focus on specific industries

Despite the overall decrease in suspected digital fraud coming from the Philippines across different industries, suspected fraudsters have honed in on specific sectors. The logistics industry had the biggest year-on-year growth in suspected digital fraud attempts coming from the Philippines among all sectors at 236%. Based on data from April 1 to June 30, 2022, shipping fraud was the top logistics-focused form of digital fraud across the world. Common examples of this type of fraud include instances where buyers fabricate shipping addresses, or when sellers receive payment for goods or services, but never ship to buyers.

The telecommunications industry posted the second largest year-on-year increase in the rate of suspected digital fraud coming from the Philippines at 45%, while gambling placed third with a 32% uptick.

Addressing fraud for greater public trust

Digital fraud continues to be a constant in the lives of many Filipino consumers. TransUnion’s latest Consumer Pulse Study found that 45% of Filipino adults questioned May 26 to June 7, 2022 reported being targeted by online fraud schemes but did not become a victim in the last three months. However, 11% said they ended up as victims of activities such as phishing, money scams, or third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail sites in the last three months.

“With more Filipinos choosing to transact online, fraudsters will continue to capitalize on any opportunities to exploit both consumers and businesses,” said Pia Arellano, President and CEO of TransUnion Philippines.

“As the Philippines continues its rapid acceleration into a digital economy, organizations must take decisive steps to stay ahead of any present and emerging form of fraudulent activity. By instituting strong fraud and authentication practices, and streamlining processes to reduce manual reviews and customer interrogations, organizations can reduce costs and increase revenue while building greater trust with the Filipino public,” she added.   

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.

Suspected Digital Fraud Attempts Shift to New Industries

- Fraud Rate Change from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022

Industry

The Philippines

Across the Globe

Logistics

+235.98%

+13.29%

Telecommunications

+45.47%

-12.04%

Gambling

+31.80%

-14.06%

Travel and Leisure

-2.63%

-28.48%

Retail

-13.54%

-27.64%

Communities (online dating, forums, etc.)

-13.85%%

-7.77%

Financial Services

-16.38%

-22.30%

Gaming

-53.02%

-63.46%

 

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 About TransUnion Philippines (NYSE:TRU)

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionable picture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good®. TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people in more than 30 countries.

In the Philippines, we were the first comprehensive private credit reference agency (CRA) and we have helped Filipinos to better understand and manage their personal finances for more than a decade. We serve a range of clients across multiple sectors, including international, national and rural financial services providers, telecommunications, utilities, FinTech and retail organizations.