Business
Criminal Marketplaces Provide Gateway to Rising Account Fraud and Identity Theft
Mitek and DarkTower partnership presents a powerful new approach to identifying compromised data and combating fraud SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The amount
About this update from Mitek Systems, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nMitek and DarkTower partnership presents a powerful new approach to identifying compromised data and combating fraud\n\n\n SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nThe amount of check fraud and identity theft-related crimes emerging from online criminal marketplaces continue to rise. Today, Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK) announced its partnership with DarkTower, a cyber intelligence research company, to address the growing threat. During the first quarter of 2023 alone, the Federal Trade Commission recorded nearly $2 billion in losses from more than 750,000 reports of fraud and identity theft.\n\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230515005016/en/(Graphic: Business Wire)\nThe partnership will give all customers of Mitek’s Check Fraud Defender real time access to compromised account data.\n\n\n“The rise of nefarious activities has led to a proliferation of sensitive information being shared on criminal marketplaces and has increased the amount of identity theft and fraud taking place,” said Robin Pugh, president and CEO of DarkTower. “Our work includes identifying places where stolen information is being shared or sold and flagging this data to the proper parties to address.”\n\n\nIn an early test, Mitek and DarkTower provided a large financial institution with extracted data and supporting images. A small sample of 200 images from a single criminal marketplace processed through Check Fraud Defender revealed more than $10 million in customer funds at risk. The $10 million at-risk funds represents only a fraction of the potential value of documents available on these exchanges, with experts estimating thousands of similar active markets. The financial institution confirmed there was undetected fraud and there were claims paid related to the group of stolen checks. More than 90% of the claims showed additional counterfeit documents were distributed. This averaged $50,000 in losses per stolen document.\n\n\nHow It Works\n\n\nMitek uses DarkTower’s proprietary sourcing technology and its own state of the art image analysis technology to extract data from stolen documents such as checks, account screens, and identification documents sold on online channels and in marketplaces. Mitek delivers automated alerts for potentially compromised accounts to financial institutions and they c...