Social engineering scams such as funds transfer fraud rose globally last year, according to 2018 claims data from CFC Underwriting.
Funds transfer fraud accounted for 24% of CFC’s cyber claims last year, a 26% increase on 2017.
In the UK, claims stemming from funds transfer fraud increased by 14% to 33% of all cyber claims notified in 2018. Across the Atlantic, the increase was 92%.
Both jurisdictions also experienced an increase in claims for malicious data breaches, reaching 20% for the UK and 26% for the US.
CFC cyber product leader James Burns said: “Social engineering scams such as funds transfer fraud continue to evolve in their complexity and severity, and in many cases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to detect the scam until it has already been completed.”
“As real-time payments facilities, like the UK’s Faster Payments Service, are adopted around the world, it’s likely that we will see the frequency of funds transfer fraud claims continue to rise.”
“Given that these events usually start with a human error—whether clicking on a phishing link or not following up a wire transfer request with a phone call—it is important that businesses make employee awareness a top priority as preventing human error or oversight is likely to be the best way to prevent what are often significant losses.”
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