Account takeover fraud, which occurs when a criminal gainsunauthorized access to an account via identity theft, is growing byleap and bounds.

It's a type of identity theft where a fraudster uses parts ofthe victim's identity, such as an email address, to gain access tofinancial accounts. The perpetrator often reroutes communicationabout the account, keeping the victim in the dark so the thieverycan continue longer. Affected accounts can include credit cards,checking and savings accounts, brokerage accounts and store loyaltyrewards accounts.

At least partially explaining its growth, the adoption of EMV isleading to account takeover fraud growing even faster than paymentcard fraud. In addition, greater access to credit, an abundance ofinformation, faster electronic communications and intensecompetition among financial institutions make it easier than everfor criminals to steal identities and falsify information.