The suspected digital fraud rate in this sector was 18 percent of total attempts to transact in the first six months of 2024, surpassing the global average of 11.5 percent and marking a 35-percent increase from the same period in 2023.
These findings are part of TransUnion’s H2 2024 Update to the State of Omnichannel Fraud Report, which examines global digital fraud trends.
Other sectors in the report included retail (12.7 percent), financial services (6.6 percent), logistics (5.7 percent), public sector (4.6 percent), travel and leisure (0.9 percent), and telecommunications (0.8 percent).
The report identified the financial transaction stage as having the highest level of suspected fraud within communities, with 31 percent of transaction attempts flagged as suspicious, followed by account creation at 22 percent.
This trend mirrors global patterns, where the communities sector recorded an 11.5- percent suspected fraud rate in the first half of 2024, 23 percent higher than the previous year.
“Digital scams are constantly evolving. The growth of online communities creates more avenues for scammers to defraud consumers,” said Yogesh Daware, chief commercial officer at TransUnion Philippines.
“With rising community fraud rates in the Philippines aligning with global findings, there is a need to focus efforts on educating consumers about these types of attacks and disseminating preventive measures that consumers and businesses can take to protect themselves from falling victim,” he added.
A recent survey by TransUnion revealed that phishing, smishing, and gift card scams remain the most common fraud tactics targeting Filipinos.
Daware urged businesses to adopt advanced tools like identity verification and IP intelligence to keep up with increasingly sophisticated fraud threats.
The report highlights the need for robust fraud prevention strategies, as fraud tactics continue to diversify and exploit vulnerable stages in the customer journey.
