Google Voice scams led the way in what was a record year for identity-related fraud in 2021, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).
The non-profit said it received 14,947 reports from consumers during the year, a 26% increase from 2020 and the most it has ever had to deal with.
Half (50%) of these were scam victims: that is, they shared personally identifiable information (PII) with their attacker. More than half (53%) of this group comprised Google Voice scams, making it the most prevalent fraud type of the year.
Fraudsters typically seek out victims who are selling items online. They will send them a Google verification code and request that the victim shares that code – ostensibly to verify they are a ‘real’ seller.
In reality, if the victim does so, their phone number will be linked to a newly created fraudulent Google Voice account which will be used to scam others.
Elsewhere, the ITRC recorded an 8% increase in “identity misuse” incidents, totalling 4168 in number. Two-fifths (40%) of these were related to financial account misuse, with most of this group linked to new account fraud (64%) and the remainder to account takeover (36%).
Over half (55%) of identity misuse cases were recorded as attempts to open, access or take over government accounts or apply for benefits – no doubt spurred by the prevalence of COVID relief payments in the US.
Elsewhere, the ITRC recorded massive rises in non-financial account takeover (235%) and…
