“Who’s calling now?” has become a “ubiquitous” question and a “sign of the times” for mobile users as fraud and spammers repeatedly target consumers through their phones.
New research from TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) reveals that “around one-third of consumers experience fraud attempts multiple times per week, if not daily.”
More than half (51%) report being “targeted in the last three months.”
The most common attacks “include social engineering schemes that try to convince consumers to give sensitive information, like phishing, which typically occurs via email; vishing, which happens via phone calls and voice messages; and SMSishing, which occurs over text message.”
Consumers face a “near constant bombardment of fraud attempts on their mobile devices. Understandably, they are looking to mobile carriers for help reducing the volume of these threats.”
The research includes a consumer survey of attitudes and behaviors “regarding fraud mitigation on mobile devices, including use of third-party services and the influence of AI.”
Dan Carella, head of TransUnion’s communications vertical, said:
“Consumers face a near constant bombardment of fraud attempts on their mobile devices Understandably, they are looking to mobile carriers for help reducing the volume of these threats.”
Across generations, consumers cited mobile phone carriers, “like Verizon and T-Mobile, as most responsible for protecting consumers from fraud on mobile devices.”
Baby Boomers were most adamant “about this as 45% of that generation identified mobile phone carriers as responsible, compared to Millennials (39%), Gen X (38%) and Gen Z (33%).”
What’s more, after a year’s tenure “with a mobile carrier, consumers across generations relied more heavily on their mobile provider to protect them from fraud. New customers with less than a year with their mobile phone carriers said tech companies that provide email and browsing services—like Google and Microsoft—are almost as responsible as mobile carriers to help them combat fraud.”
James Garvert, senior vice president, TruContact Communications Solutions at TransUnion:
“As data breaches increase and more customer data is exposed, consumers are seeing a rise in unwanted spam calls and expect mobile carriers to continue providing them with the tools to avoid falling victim to fraud attempts. Given these rising expectations, we expect communication service providers will continue making the investments to meet the expectations of their customers.”
The report also identified “which types of fraud protections consumers want from mobile service providers. Across generations, seeing the ID of callers was almost universally desired. Generational differences split the next most popular options.”
For Gen Z consumers, the ability to “perform a reverse phone number lookup for unknown callers was about equally important as having access to free credit and identity monitoring services. Millennials saw less value in reverse lookup capabilities but were equally as excited about credit and identity monitoring as Gen Z.”
Gen X and Baby Boomers expressed “about the same interest in reverse lookup, credit and identity monitoring, and the ability to block suspicious phone numbers.”
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