Visa warns scam activities to intensify during holidays

CEBU, Philippines — Digital payment technology company, Visa Inc., has warned consumers to be extra careful as it expects heightened scam activities during the holiday season across both card-present (CP) and card-not-present (CNP) transactions.

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

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 also unveiled its list of top 10 habits that consumers can follow to practice safe and secure shopping.

Historical data and transactions show that threat actors prey on consumers during the holiday season.

In fact, Visa’s data showed that for the top merchant categories targeted by fraudsters, 2022 holiday fraud rates increased 11 percent over the non-holiday fraud rate and saw an increase of eight percent over the previous year during this time.

The Holiday Edition Threats Report warned 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; Phishing and Social Engineering; ATM / POS Skimming; OTP Bypass and Provisioning Fraud; and Physical Theft.

“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, emphasizing that Visa is committed to security and reliability, with a promise of 24/7 threat monitoring, even during the busiest time of the year.

Its updated Security Roadmap for the Philippines is designed to provide enhanced protection for transactions made online and at physical retailers.

Consequently, Visa partners with the government and clients to protect its customers through its focus on education to increase digital and fraud awareness.

Visa also advised consumers who are planning to shop this holiday to 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.

Securing account information should be practiced, to 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.”

According to Visa, avoiding Public Wi-Fi for Shopping is also important, saying “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.”

Moreover, shoppers are warned to be alert 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,” Visa warned.

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,” Navarro added.

Visa is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. — (FREEMAN)