Digital trust and security experts, Callsign, have just released their predictions for 2023 in relation to fraud. The company has listed several emerging trends that will affect banks, telecommunication companies, social media, and eCommerce platforms. Here’s a summary of their top five predictions:

Dormant Account Takeovers Will Increase

Callsign’s first prediction is that dormant bank accounts — where consumers have not used a service for an extended period — will increasingly be utilized by fraudsters to launder illegal money.

Once a dormant account has been taken over, scammers will likely use deceptive social media adverts and phishing to trick unsuspecting members of the public into sending money.

Buy Now, Pay Later Fraud Will Rise

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is already very popular in the Middle East, and will only continue to grow over the coming years. Unfortunately, the BNPL market isn’t yet as well regulated as other financial sectors, which can often mean neglected security protocols.

Callsign predicts that there will be a sharp rise in BNPL fraud in 2023, with businesses being exposed to various types of refund scams and more accounts will be opened using stolen or fake credentials.

Deep Fake Technology Will Become More Sophisticated

Although deep fake videos of celebrities make for interesting viewing, the technology does have a much darker side. Callsign reports that scammers are already using the technology to convince consumers to part with their cash, utilizing a mixture of visual identification and impersonation.

Fraud Will Enter The Metaverse

Web 3.0 is being heralded as a way to enable seamless connectivity across platforms and networks, with the potential to allow deeper collaborations and new opportunities for business and learning. As great as all of that sounds, the metaverse will undoubtedly suffer from many of the same issues currently plaguing the regular internet, including fake avatars, scams, and fraud.

Callsign thinks that 2023 will be the first year where widespread criminality makes its way onto Web 3.0, and depressingly, believes that “everything wrong from a security perspective with social platforms today will be considerably worse in the metaverse of tomorrow.”

A New Cycle Of Victims Will Emerge

According to Callsign’s Digital Trust report, Middle Eastern consumers tend to have higher levels of digital trust than those in other regions. That means that despite digital fraud being widespread for decades, 2023 will see a whole new segment of the global population falling victim to scams as greater numbers of people take their work, finance, and social lives online.