With increased online shopping and travel during the holiday season, consumers are eager to learn more about not falling victim to financial fraud.
And many look to the financial services industry for guidance.
According to the Secure Retirement Institute, 70% of consumers agree that they wish financial services companies would tell them more about their efforts to prevent financial fraud.
In addition, two-thirds of consumers want information on how to reliably detect and prevent financial fraud on their own.
Research by LIMRA revealed that nearly 80% of consumers are very or somewhat concerned about financial fraud; 36% indicated that they have been a victim of financial fraud at least once; and of those affected by fraud, 64% of the events have happened in the past five years.
Limra's research also found 22% of consumers were victims of credit card scams. Eight percent were misled into giving money to a fraudulent person or organization, 7% were targets of false tax filings or stolen tax refunds, 5% had their current accounts access breached; and 5% had unauthorized new accounts opened.
Moreover, a separate survey by Limra of more than 300 life insurance licensed advisors found that one in 12 advisors have been a target of account takeover (ATO) fraud, and one in nine have clients who have been targeted. Account takeover occurs when an unrelated third party impersonates a client or advisor in order to access accounts or records for the purpose of stealing information and/or requesting disbursements, Limra explained.
Limra noted that the incidence of fraud involving individual life insurance and annuities, as well as defined contribution retirement plans, has been rising since January 2017.