Equifax data breach fraud trends

It’s understood there have been cases of Equifax data breach fraud committed, perhaps, as a direct result of the breach itself.

Tech company, Forte, produced some stats that indicate some alarming figures in the wake of the Equifax data breach. The data can be interpreted as a possible spike in some fraud incidents after the Equifax data breach took place, which wouldn’t surprise us given the scale and nature of this monumental attack.

It’s another sign that we ought to be far more concerned with regards to data breaches than many people are.

Equifax data breach fraud trends analysis

A brief analysis of potential Equifax data breach fraud trends saw some spikes in certain types of frauds that appeared to occur in the wake of the breach itself.

For example, fraud for digital goods like gift cards, music and gaming reportedly increased by 167%, with electronic sellers seeing fraud incidents increase by more than 65%. Account take-over incidents (literally meaning fraudsters taking over online accounts) overtook identify theft, and there’s a number of reasons to link this to the Equifax data breach, which could include it becoming easier with stolen information more readily available.

With some 150 million people affected by the Equifax data breach – with 700,000 of those being here in the UK, which is why we’re spearheading legal action for a group of Claimants – it’s resulted in a wealth of information available for criminals and fraudsters to use. With data out there that’s readily available for exploitation, we’re not surprised that there were reported spikes that can be taken as Equifax data breach fraud incidents.

CEO and co-founder of Forter, Michael Reitblat, said: “One explanation for the 53% spike in account takeover fraud in Q3 2017 was the flood of high-quality, sensitive information available to fraudsters following the massive Equifax breach.”

It’s a sound suggestion in our view.

Have you been affected by an Equifax data breach fraud incident?

If you’ve been affected by an Equifax data breach fraud incident, or if you were a victim of the Equifax data breach and you want to join our action, please contact the team for assistance.

We’ve been representing large group of victims for quite some time now, but you can still join the action if you have yet to sign-up.

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