Attacks on payment transactions in financial services have grown 100 per cent year-on-year, with new FinTech and cryptocurrency platforms being increasingly targeted by fraudsters.

This is according to the ThreatMetrix Q4 2017 cybercrime report, which found that the financial services payment attack rate has grown 452 per cent from 2015, with cryptocurrency marketplaces now a prime target for attacks on legitimate transactions.

The report found that fraudulent new accounts are created using stolen or synthesised identities to set up mule accounts to launder money, while legitimate accounts are being hacked to make fraudulent payments and transfer cryptocurrency balances out when at their highest value.

Mobile has become the leading way to acquire new customers for financial institutions, however account creations is now the most vulnerable stage of the customer journey, currently attacks at a rate of more than one in 10.

Vanita Pandey, vice president of product marketing at ThreatMetrix, said: “Cryptocurrency marketplaces need a more accurate way to verify the identity of new customers who open an account in order to prevent the infiltration of criminals.

“Using intelligence from the ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Network, these marketplaces can better differentiate between good customers and fraudsters the moment they arrive, and thus see an immediate reduction in fraudulent activity on their platforms.”

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