Experian has introduced Fraud Protect, a tool with which car sellers will be able to record and prevent criminals from interfering in the process of interacting with customers to steal money or gain access to data classified as confidential information.

Recently, sales in the virtual space have become what can be described as an actively scalable commercial practice. This trend has covered many sectors of the global market and is likely to cover all segments of the trading space in the foreseeable future. The automotive industry is no exception in the context of the widespread practice of online commerce. In this case, sales on virtual platforms are a logical continuation of the fact that more and more consumers choose vehicles on websites and receive information about the characteristics of cars. The Internet has also become a source of important information about the state of the relevant market and its current conjuncture. For example, users often leave queries on online search engines such as, is now a good time to buy a car. Against the background of these realities, it is obvious that a car dealer should think about ensuring cybersecurity.

John Gray, Experian’s president of automotive, in North America, says that scammers are becoming more sophisticated and prone to opportunism. According to him, against the background of this challenge, car dealers should use next-generation technological solutions and advanced analytics to reduce the risk of interference from criminals. This was stated by John Gray in a press release published last Wednesday, January 31.

Experian’s president of automotive noted that not all crimes related to the category of fraud are committed in the same way. According to him, the purpose of Fraud Protect is to help dealerships identify the most common fraud techniques. By using the new tool, vehicle sellers will be able to take the most effective measures aimed at protecting portfolios and bottom lines.

Experian conducted its own research, which found that almost 70% of companies in recent years have recorded an increase in losses related to the actions of fraudsters. For car dealers, this means criminal methods such as stealing someone’s identity to buy a vehicle, or deliberately misrepresenting their identity to purchase without further transfer of the payment.

To combat the specified threats, Fraud Protect provides car sellers with the ability to send customers the secure URL of a specific dealer online via text message, email, or QR code.

After buyers submit documents, the new tool begins to compare this data with a wide range of information resources, including identification data and credit card usage patterns. This algorithm of actions is designed to detect suspicious activity.

The launch of the tool, designed to prevent attacks from scammers, comes at a time when online sellers are making active efforts to combat the consequences of fraud, which demonstrates a tendency to scale in a virtual environment.

Over the past year in the United States, more than 80% of companies have experienced crimes committed against them in the digital space. In this case, confirmed fraudulent activities are meant, and not just suspicious cases or false positives.

It is also known that among the mentioned fraudulent, only 21% of the crimes were committed by a person. In most cases, technological solutions such as phishing or cyber attacks were used. Moreover, as part of the fraud, apply bots and artificial intelligence.

Currently, the problem of accurately determining the source of criminal activity in cyberspace is being fixed. In the United States, in about 20% of confirmed fraud cases in 2023, online retailers could hardly figure out whether a person or some kind of technology was the actor.

Against the background of current threats in cyberspace, there is clearly a need for verification mechanisms to be implemented in the e-commerce space that can differentiate or minimize the consequences of crimes in the digital environment. This problem is relevant when you consider that in the United States, more than 10% of online retailers do not use tools to identify the cause of payment transaction failures.