What is Account Takeover Fraud?
Account takeover fraud occurs when a criminal gains unauthorized access to a legitimate user account and exploits that access for fraudulent purposes. Criminals achieve this by impersonating the account holder in person at a branch, over the phone, via email, or through online banking portals or mobile apps.
Having gained access to the account, bad actors can attempt to carry out various types of nefarious activity while pretending to be the real account holder, with often costly and harmful consequences.
For example, criminals can:
- Change the customer’s contact information to prevent the financial institution from being able to contact the legitimate account holder
- Make unauthorized transactions
- Access the account’s overdraft limits or credit lines
- Order checks or replacement debit or credit cards
- Harvest sensitive user data and account information to commit other forms of fraud
It is essential for financial institutions seeking to improve their defenses to understand account takeover fraud, why it is so damaging and what is driving it.
For an overview of the basics of account takeover fraud, watch this video below.
Downloadable Resources
Explore these resources for additional information on account takeover fraud basics.
| Document Title | Format | Reading Time |
|---|---|---|
| What is Account Takeover Fraud? (PDF) | Document | 3 minutes |
| Account Takeover Fraud – Why it is so Damaging (PDF) | Document | 4 minutes |
| Infographic: Why Account Takeover Fraud is so Damaging (PDF) | Document | 3 minutes |
| Key Drivers Of Account Takeover Fraud in Today’s Landscape (PDF) | Document | 4 minutes |
Explore the toolkit modules below for resources to help understand account takeover fraud.
The account takeover fraud mitigation toolkit was developed by the Federal Reserve to help educate the industry about account takeover fraud and outline potential ways to help detect and mitigate this fraud type. Insights for this toolkit were provided through interviews with industry experts, publicly available research, and team member expertise. This toolkit is not intended to result in any regulatory or reporting requirements, imply any liabilities for fraud loss, or confer any legal status, legal definitions, or legal rights or responsibilities. While use of this toolkit throughout the industry is encouraged, utilization of the toolkit is voluntary at the discretion of each individual entity. Absent written consent, this toolkit may not be used in a manner that suggests the Federal Reserve endorses a third-party product or service.