First-time buyers and younger home owners are at increasingly high risk of cyber crime.
According to Experian, the number of financial applications made by third party fraudsters between January and June was 14% higher when compared with the same time in 2018.
Third party fraud occurs when sensitive information is stolen from a person and used without their knowledge and against their wishes. This type of fraud is prominent online with cyber criminals using social engineering tactics to steal data but conventional data theft through stealing mail is also rife.
Frauds committed against people that have recently bought their first home increased by 35% in the opening half of 2019.
Experian attribute the data losses to both poor physical and digital data defences. New mailboxes or poor storage facilities make stealing mail from new home owners easier.
Similarly, the credit checking service also suffered from greater data breaches with new homeowners slow to acclimatise and embed cyber defences after moving in.
As a result, young homeowners suffered a 91% increase in card fraud between H1 2018 and H1 2019.
Overall, Experian has found that more 25-34 year olds are living in communal accommodation types like flats and apartments with shared mail areas. These areas are susceptible to higher levels of threat, theft and sensitive data loss.
Whilst younger people are being targeted in their droves by fraudsters, credit and debit card fraud continues to present a problem, increasing by 60% in the past year. Experian has therefore emphasised the importance of technology companies improving their approaches to spot the signs of fraudulent applications in the future.
Nick Mothershaw, Director of Identity and Fraud Solutions at Experian UK and Ireland, said:
“While we are uncovering a new incident every 15 seconds, fraudsters continue to find new ways of separating people and organisations from their money.
“It is critical people think about where their post is stored and are aware of how data breaches can affect them.”
How vulnerable are new homeowners to both cyber and physical forms of fraud?
