Millions Of Online Identities Stolen—Are You Now At Risk?Your security credentials are at risk. You know this, and you see weekly warnings to change passwords, to enable two-factor authentication, to add passkeys. Data breaches are painful but passwords can be changed. Unfortunately, your identity is also at risk from cyber criminals. And that’s much harder to fix if the worst happens. https://t.co/tB5LM5S0Sr ...

Fraud Landscape - 73% of US adults have experienced some kind of online scam or attack [1] - Reported losses from fraud hit $125 billion in 2024, showing a significant increase [1] - Scammers exploit human desires and vulnerabilities for illicit gain, targeting areas like romance, travel, and relief efforts [6] - Scammers are leveraging AI and deepfakes to create more sophisticated scams [10][18] - Democratization of access to AI capabilities allows scammers to target anyone and everyone, including small business owners [17][18][19] Common Scam Tactics - Dating scams involve fake verification services that subscribe victims to recurring billing services [3][4][5] - Travel scams involve mimicking airline or hotel websites to steal payment information [7] - Scammers use phishing, smishing (SMS phishing), and data from the dark web to obtain personal and financial information [7][8] - Scammers scrape social media profiles to create synthetic identities to target family or co-workers [16] Prevention and Mitigation - Consumers should be wary of deals that are too good to be true or situations where they are pressured to make a quick decision [9] - Consumers should check their account statements regularly and sign up for transaction alerts [5][13][14] - Consumers should be careful about the data they share, especially on social media [15][16] - Visa has identified over $1 billion in scams across its network and is working with law enforcement to dismantle them [9] - The industry needs to invest in good applications of AI to combat the bad applications of AI used by scammers [11]