Connected Car
Scammers who previously defrauded COVID-19 stimulus programs switched to target the auto finance industry in 2022, Point Predictive concluded in a fraud report released in June. These schemes contributed to a 35 percent increase in auto loan identity and synthetic identity fraud last year, according to Point Predictive's 2023 Auto Lending Fraud Trends Report. Meanwhile, the more traditional scams of income and employment fraud and using straw borrowers all saw declines, Point Predictive said. "2022 marked a dramatic shift in auto lending fraud patterns," Point Predictive wrote in the report. Its fraud team flagged more than 18,000 suspicious auto loan applications last year, up more than 8 percent from 2021.