Verifying identities continues to be a tricky proposition for banks as cybercriminals diversify and increase their attacks — especially when it comes to wire transactions.
Payments fraud hit a record high in 2017, with 78% of all organizations affected, according to a report from the Association of Financial Professionals and J.P. Morgan. Wire fraud was the second-most prevalent in that category (check fraud was No. 1).
Wire fraud losses are averaging about $63,000 per incident and can run as high as $1 million dollars, according to the security blog frankonfraud.com.
“It’s really becoming a huge issue for banks across many of their channels,” said Thomas Cronkright, president and CEO of the fintech firm CertifID, which provides digital security services. “And in direct channels in particular, when they are providing loans for collateral-based lending, the challenge is they are funding to a third party. So how do you trust that the wiring information has been received from the third party is accurate?”