The year-end holiday season is a time of joy and celebration, marked by festivities such as Black Friday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It’s a season when people come together to exchange gifts, show appreciation, and enjoy special moments with loved ones.
However, for enterprises and retail businesses, this time of year is not only a season of abundance but also a season of vulnerability. As holiday spending surges, so does the risk of cyber attacks and scams in the retail sector.
During the holiday season, a variety of scams emerge, preying on the festive spirit and increasing online and in-store shopping. These holidays scams come in different forms, each designed to deceive and defraud.
Why do holiday scams occur most frequently during the year-end holiday season? The answer lies in the human factor. The holiday season presents a unique opportunity for scammers to exploit human emotions and behavior.
One key reason behind the surge in holiday scams is social engineering. Scammers leverage the goodwill and festive spirit of the season to dupe unsuspecting individuals. They send out heartwarming seasonal wishes and greetings, which may often conceal malicious intentions. Holiday cards and messages, seemingly from friends and family, become perfect cover for scam tactics.
During the holiday season, many businesses operate with reduced staff, including their cybersecurity teams. This staffing shortage can leave payment gateway operations and systems vulnerable to attacks. Mobile payment solutions and digital wallets, in particular, are susceptible to risks like credit risk fraud and money laundering. Criminals exploit the understaffed security to engage in fraudulent transactions and financial crimes.
Holiday shoppers are often enticed by too-good-to-be-true promotions and offers. As a result, they fall victim to scams that offer unbelievable deals. The fear of missing out on these offers makes it hard for consumers to reject them, creating the perfect opportunity for scammers to thrive.
In the battle against holiday scams, technology is a powerful ally. Mobile payment and mobile money service providers can employ proactive measures to secure their revenue and protect their customers.
Neural Technologies’s Revenue Protection suite of solutions can help mitigate the risks associated with the holiday season.
Our advanced Fraud Management solution harnesses the power of AI and machine learning technology to swiftly detect and pinpoint fraudulent activities, providing businesses with real-time protection against an extensive array of holiday scams, including both conventional and emerging fraudulent schemes.
Credit Risk Management solution is specifically crafted to offer comprehensive credit risk assessment throughout the entire spectrum of mobile payment operations, encompassing aspects like forecasting bad debt, predicting usage patterns, and detecting anomalies.
It employs advanced techniques, including time-series decomposition and behavioral analysis, to identify and highlight critical credit risk in the context of mobile money solutions, especially during the holiday season when vulnerabilities are heightened.
In the context of mobile money-related financial crimes, our Anti-Money Laundering solution offers simplified onboarding with automated KYC/AML risk assessment, streamlining the entire customer journey. The solution covers everything from the initial customer onboarding process to ensuring compliance with AML/CTF regulations, which is especially vital given the surge in criminal activities during holiday seasons.
Don’t let holiday scams ruin your festive spirit – Contact us now to stay safe and secure.