THE Philippines bucked the global trend of rising digital fraud amid the pandemic, as suspected digital fraud attempts declined in the country in the second quarter of the year, according to the latest quarterly analysis of TransUnion Information Solutions Inc.

The global information and insights company said the rate of suspected digital fraudulent attempts in the country dropped by 59.4 percent in the second quarter of the year. Globally, the rate rose 16.5 percent across industries during the same time period.

TransUnion said the industries with the largest declines in suspected digital fraud originating from the Philippines during the quarter were telecommunications with a decline of 98.7 percent, logistics with a decline of 71.1 percent, and financial services with a decline of 61.3 percent.

TransUnion monitors digital fraud attempts reported by businesses in varied industries such as gambling, gaming, financial services, retail and travel and leisure, among others. The conclusions are based on intelligence from billions of transactions and more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in its flagship identity proofing, risk-based authentication and fraud analytics solution suite."

"Among all the markets that our research covered, the Philippines recorded the second biggest decline in the rate of suspected digital fraud originating from that country, next only to Brazil," TransUnion Philippines President and CEO Pia Arellano said. "It is possible fraudsters have recognized the fraud controls our customers have after experiencing them first-hand and have gone elsewhere for the time being."

"However, constant vigilance is still warranted as we'll likely see them again in industries where transactions are increasing," the executive added.

In contrast, suspected digital fraudulent attempts rose 51.4 percent for the gaming sector and 198.5 percent for travel and leisure during the period.

In terms of fraud types, phishing was also number one in the Philippines at 40 percent followed by third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail websites at 29 percent.

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