From rideshares and food delivery to online gambling and large-scale financial corporations, location fraud is an ever-growing threat. Regulated and non-regulated industries alike are drowning in the aftershocks of geolocation fraud, and truthfully, this crime has reached such a fever pitch that a company’s only remaining defense is location verification technology. No other advanced system has the capabilities or scope of resources necessary to stop tactics like online gambling fraud or VPN spoofing in their tracks.
Oddly enough, recent polls suggest that as few as 47% of companies actually utilize location-based verification measures, leaving an astonishing 53% highly vulnerable to attack. So the biggest question is, which group does your brand belong to? If you’re in the majority and haven’t yet adopted an advanced location verification solution, you’ve got two options: cross your fingers and hope for the best, or integrate a suite of protections that even the best cybercriminals can’t beat.
Location Fraud Basics
Before we discuss how to combat location fraud in all its forms, you first need a foundational understanding of what this attack looks like, the types of techniques used to carry out the crime, and how your business may already be vulnerable. It’s important to know that location spoofing in and of itself is not illegal – many businesses have temporarily falsified their IP addresses in order to test new software, simulate user behavior in different locations, or protect their ISP privacy.
Problems with location spoofing only arise when individuals fake their location data not for privacy, but for personal gain. To help you discern the difference and to protect your company’s future digital transactions, here’s a quick overview of the what, where, why, and how of geolocation fraud.
Calculating Location Fraud Loss
Have you run the numbers on e-commerce fraud recently? Most e-commerce companies accept digital fraud as part of the cost of doing business, but as its fallout widens year after year, it simply can’t be ignored. Statista estimates that global e-commerce fraud losses surpassed 44.3 billion dollars in 2024 and expects that by 2029, fraud loss will surpass $100 billion – but these figures are on a global scale, so let’s zoom in closer to home.
Studies also indicate that over 42% of global e-commerce fraud originates from North America, so if you own or manage an American-based company, your brand runs an even higher risk of financial loss. Even worse, the United States is the most fraud-prone country, reporting more than 12.5 billion in fraud losses last year. Hopefully, your company has been spared the effects of location fraud so far, but the clock is ticking, and it’s time to take action.
The Most Vulnerable Location Fraud Industries
Every industry and business is susceptible to location fraud in its many guises, but some niches are more likely than others to be targeted by slick cybercriminals. However, even if your business does not fall into one of the categories below, that doesn’t mean it’s in the clear. Any brand conducting digital business needs to be vigilant about protecting their reputation, assets, and customers from location fraud attacks.
Because a detailed report about every at-risk industry would take months to compile and hours to read, we’ve boiled down today’s discussion to the major players:
- Online Gambling
Online gambling is a prime target for location fraud because of inconsistent state laws. The patchwork of U.S. gambling regulations makes it tempting for players to rely on VPNs, proxy servers, and spoofed GPS data to lie about their location to place bets, especially in states where sports betting is illegal. Online gambling fraud undermines compliance and puts operators at legal risk: Betting companies may face fines or lose their licenses if they fail to prevent this crime.
- Financial Institutions
Financial institutions may use location data to verify users’ identities or prevent fraud. For example, banks track a customer’s location to detect unusual credit card activity, and if transactions begin occurring far from a customer’s usual area, a bank message notifies the customer of this potential fraud attempt. Yet imagine what could happen If this data was tampered with and made inaccurate through location fraud: It could lead to security breaches, stolen funds, wrecked credit scores, and compliance fines, and months of costly litigation.
- Rideshares
Every time someone requests a Lyft to the airport or an Uber home from dinner, they’re relying on accurate GPS services to pinpoint their location and take them where they need to go. Without consistently reliable geolocation data that can’t be hacked and manipulated, rideshare companies are incredibly vulnerable to abuse, fraud, liability increases, and safety risks. Location fraud in the rideshare space can also lead to improperly compensated drivers and a severe loss of customer trust.
- Online Dating
Although dating apps may seem like small potatoes compared to large-scale banks, their 400-million global user base and related financial transactions suggests that this digital arena is a looming target for location fraudsters. If location-spoofing criminals attack dating apps, serious safety concerns arise. Location fraud could allow someone with bad intentions to access profiles outside their age range, misrepresent themselves in online conversations, and perpetrate sexual or other heinous physical crimes against unsuspecting app users.
Block Every Form of Location Fraud Attack with EVS
Whether you run a high-end online gambling platform that caters to VIP players or you’re a proprietor of food delivery in a bustling global city, your online transactions are at extreme risk of location fraud in all its forms, VPN spoofing and online gambling fraud just to name a few. We know you didn’t scale your business to this level by playing small, so don’t go against your values and limit yourself to subpar fraud protection, either.
EVS masterminds developed the most robust location verification solutions possible to help stop location fraud in its tracks and keep businesses like yours protected from all angles. The driving force behind our Blue Assure platform and its multiple fraud prevention tools was our desire to stop flourishing companies from joining the long list of fraud victims. In particular, we created our AssureLocate system to give your brand and your customers the multi-layered location verification they deserve.
AssureLocate works behind the scenes in real time to verify jurisdictions and block location fraud. Integrate this EVS tool into your existing IAM to instantly flag and stop location spoofing.
Using proprietary triangulation, AssureLocate can detect a user’s location as soon as they initiate an online action; it notices when gambling participants place bets and if someone attempts to access restricted networks or breach security.
Rather than breaking jurisdictional laws, risking hefty compliance fines, and alienating customers, prevent fraud before it starts by partnering with EVS and our comprehensive location verification capabilities.
