Account Takeover Fraud (ATO)

ATO Fraud or Account Takeover Fraud is a form of identity theft in which a criminal gains control of a consumer’s account. In doing so, the perpetrator gains access to confidential information amongst the type of account, such as the consumer’s PIN, enabling them to change account settings, such as the statement mailing address, username and password, and/or enabling them to make unauthorized withdrawals.

ATO can involve one or multiple accounts of the victim — including, but limited to, bank account, email address, brokerage, phone, utility, social media, travel or online shopping accounts — and then used for a variety of unlawful activities with their personal information. Financial account takeover usually involves funds being removed from the victim’s accounts either by direct debit, payments or transfers being set up for fraudulent transactions without the victim’s knowledge or consent.

How Criminals Attempt Account Takeover Fraud

With account takeover of mobile phones, often the perpetrator’s intent is to gain control of the phone-based security authentication factor through a login attempt, which is usually a code or security token sent via SMS or authentication software to the phone. Once it is acquired by the criminal, the code can grant him/her access to the victim’s financial institution, brokerage, bitcoin and other financial accounts.

The credentials to commit account takeover are usually obtained by criminals indirectly through data breach marketplaces on the dark web or directly from the consumer using malware or via phishing. Once a fraudster gains access to a victim’s account, they often update the account credentials and contact information so the victim no longer no has control over the account and will no longer be informed about changes to the account. In most cases, the victims are unaware that their account has been compromised until the damage is done and the perpetrators have covered their tracks.

Fraud.net Has a Solution

To protect against Account Takeover Fraud, Fraud.net offers a variety of solutions to protect your business. With the power of AI and machine learning, our solutions help stop fraud in its tracks – before it destroys your company.