New Visa Report Tells Consumers to Stay Alert this Holiday Shopping Season

In the Holiday Edition Threats Report, Visa anticipates that threat actors will use advanced schemes to exploit consumers’ information during the holiday season and shares tips and tricks for safe transactions.

Visa Inc., a world leader in digital payments, revealed its Holiday Edition Threats Report, which anticipates heightened scam activity during the holiday season across both card-present (CP) and card-not-present (CNP) transactions. The new report identifies popular fraud tactics expected between November 2023 and January 2024 due to the rapid increase in e-commerce activities and in-person spending across the retail and hospitality segments. Visa, today, also unveiled its list of top 10 habits that consumers can follow to practice safe and secure shopping. 

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Historical data and transactions show that threat actors prey on consumers during the holiday season. In fact, Visa’s data shows that for the top merchant categories targeted by fraudsters, 2022 holiday fraud rates increased 11% over the non-holiday fraud rate and saw an increase of 8% over the previous year during this time. The Holiday Edition Threats Report warns that threat actors will seek to exploit consumers’ increased interest and urgency in finding deals and one-of-a-kind gifts. Highlights of the report’s findings include: 

• Digital Skimming: With the increase in online shopping, there is a greater opportunity for scammers to successfully compromise account data from e-commerce merchants and monetize it.
• Phishing and Social Engineering: The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year provides threat actors with the ability to create highly customized phishing campaigns, making it harder for consumers to spot fakes. Fraudsters also create phishing websites, often using malvertising (malicious advertising) and other illicit search engine optimization (SEO) tactics on retail or service websites to entice victims.  
• ATM / POS Skimming: With the increase in foot traffic at brick-and-mortar merchants and ATMs, threat actors will likely target ATM and POS terminals with skimming attacks. 
• OTP Bypass and Provisioning Fraud: Visa identified many one-time-passcode (OTP) bypass schemes to gain access to cardholders’ accounts. In these schemes, OTP templates are sent to the victims that appear to be associated with desired purchase. 
• Physical Theft: Threat actors may attempt to physically steal payment cards and/or phones from unsuspecting consumers in crowded retail stores, shopping malls, or parking lots. 

“Crooks prepare all year for the holiday shopping season, taking advantage of increased activity and consumers who let their guard down searching for the perfect gift,” said Jeff Navarro, Visa’s Country Manager for the Philippines. “At Visa, we are committed to security and reliability, with a promise of 24/7 threat monitoring, even during the busiest time of the year. Our updated Security Roadmap for the Philippines is designed to provide enhanced protection for transactions made online and at physical retailers. Visa partners with the government and clients to protect our customers through our focus on education to increase digital and fraud awareness. Consumers can rest easy this holiday season knowing Visa’s team of experts is working around the clock to stop fraud in its tracks.”

10 Habits to Help Consumers Shop Securely

Visa’s 10 Habits for Good Security Hygiene can guide consumers who are planning to shop this holiday season on best practices to stay safe. Highlights include: 

• Double Check Reputation and Authenticity of Retailers: Stick to trusted and retailers you know well. If you are considering a purchase from a store that you are not familiar with, do some research to check their reputation and authenticity. 
• Secure Your Personal Information: Make sure the website uses secure technology. When at the checkout, the website address should start with ‘https://’. The ‘s’ stands for secure and means that your data is being encrypted and sent over a secure connection. 
• Avoid Public Wi-Fi for Shopping: Public Wi-Fi networks are often unsecured, which makes it easier for hackers to steal your information. Always use a secure, private internet connection when you are making purchases. 
• Beware of Deals That Are Too Good to Be True: Offers on websites and in unsolicited emails can often sound too good to be true, especially extremely low prices on hard-to-get items. Consumers should be suspicious of such deals, as they often are. 

At Visa, security and reliability is a top priority year-round. Over the past five years, the company has invested more than US$10 billion in technology, including to reduce fraud and increase network security. More than a thousand dedicated specialists protect Visa’s network from malware, zero-day attacks and insider threats 24x7x365. In fact, in the first six months of 2023, Visa helped to proactively block US$30 billion in fraud, preventing many from ever knowing they were at risk of a potential fraudulent transaction. We encourage consumers to stay alert during this season and to think about where they are shopping and who they are sharing their information with to keep it safe.