Overview
- Explains how Account Takeover (ATO) fraud impacts travel, hospitality, telecom, and F&B sectors in India.
- Highlights the growing threat of credential stuffing and real-world business consequences.
- Breaks down Perfios’ Trust Analytics process for detecting and preventing ATO in real-time.
- Offers actionable strategies for businesses to mitigate ATO risks and secure customer accounts.
Introduction
Picture this: Ramesh, a seasoned business traveler, logs into his favorite airline app to book his weekly Mumbai-Bengaluru flight using accumulated loyalty points. Everything looks normal – until the next morning, when he receives a confirmation email for a premium international flight to Dubai that he never booked. Panicked, he tries to log in, only to find his password no longer works. His account has been hijacked, his points wiped out, and a stranger is flying on his dime.
What happened? Ramesh fell victim to Account Takeover (ATO) fraud.
ATO fraud is when a malicious actor gains unauthorized access to a legitimate user’s account – often through stolen or reused credentials – and uses it to siphon funds, make fraudulent transactions, or exploit stored value like loyalty points. One of the most common techniques used in such attacks is credential stuffing, where attackers use bots to try thousands of stolen username-password combinations harvested from previous data breaches.
For industries like travel, hospitality, food delivery, and telecom – where users often save payment methods and personal data – ATO isn’t just a security concern. It’s a ticking time bomb.
Stay with us as we unpack the growing threat of ATO in India, how it impacts your business and your customers, and how you can fight back.
The ATO Landscape in India: Metrics That Matter
Account Takeover (ATO) fraud isn’t just making headlines globally – it’s gaining dangerous traction right here in India.
According to a 2023 report, India witnessed a 51% surge in ATO attacks year-over-year, primarily driven by credential stuffing campaigns using Indian user data leaked on the dark web. With over 500 million internet users and one of the highest rates of digital app adoption in sectors like travel, hospitality, telecom, and food delivery, India presents a ripe opportunity for cybercriminals exploiting weak credentials and unsecured sessions.
One of the major attack vectors? Leaked credentials. Over 3.6 million Indian user accounts were exposed in data breaches just in Q1 2023 alone. Most of these credentials, once stolen, are used in brute-force or automated stuffing attacks, often aided by botnets that simulate human behavior.
The implications for businesses are significant. The average cost of an ATO attack in India now exceeds ₹6.3 crore (approx. $750,000) when factoring in customer compensation, regulatory fines, and fraud recovery costs.
And it’s not just e-commerce or fintech under threat. Airlines, hotel chains, food aggregators, and telecom providers – where accounts store wallet balances, loyalty rewards, or saved cards – are among the most targeted. With mobile-first platforms and high-frequency users, a single compromised session can result in widespread damage before being detected.
Clearly, ATO fraud isn’t a theoretical risk anymore – it’s a growing reality. And it demands proactive, data-driven defenses.
The Impact of ATO on Businesses & Customers
When an account is taken over, the ripple effects are felt far beyond the individual user – it erodes trust, damages brand equity, and drains operational resources.
For customers, ATO fraud means unauthorized bookings, drained loyalty points, identity theft, and exposure of sensitive data like saved payment details or addresses. Victims are often left feeling violated, anxious, and less likely to reuse the platform. In sectors like travel or hospitality, where experiences are deeply personal and transactions are high-value, this can lead to a sharp drop in user retention.
For businesses, the financial toll is heavy. Not only must they reimburse customers, reverse fraudulent transactions, and investigate the breach – they also face the risk of regulatory penalties under frameworks like the DPDP Act and RBI’s digital security guidelines. Operationally, support centers get overwhelmed, fraud prevention teams scramble for fixes, and cybersecurity budgets balloon.
Even more damaging is the reputational fallout. A single headline about compromised accounts can deter thousands of potential users. In today’s hyper-competitive digital space, where customer trust is currency, an ATO incident can be a blow many brands can’t afford.
Next up, we’ll explore how businesses can mitigate ATO fraud – proactively and effectively. Let me know when you’re ready!
How Businesses Can Prevent Account Takeover Fraud
To stay ahead of Account Takeover (ATO) fraud, businesses must rethink their digital defenses – not just at login, but throughout the customer journey. Here’s how:
1. Multi-Layered Authentication
Implementing two-factor or risk-based authentication can significantly reduce the success rate of credential stuffing attacks. Even if login credentials are compromised, a second layer of verification (OTP, biometric, device binding) adds a crucial roadblock.
2. Monitor for Anomalies in Real-Time
Look beyond static credentials. Behavioral biometrics, such as keystroke patterns, device fingerprinting, IP geolocation, and session velocity can flag unusual activity indicative of an ATO attempt – like a login from a new location or rapid multiple failed attempts.
3. Leverage Threat Intelligence
By subscribing to breached credential databases and darknet monitoring tools, businesses can proactively detect if their user credentials have been leaked and initiate precautionary resets or step-up authentication.
4. Invest in Identity & Fraud Risk Platforms
Advanced fraud detection platforms like Perfios TrustArmour (TA) offer real-time scoring of user risk profiles. They evaluate login behaviors, device reputations, and data inconsistencies – flagging suspicious sessions before damage is done.
Prevention isn’t a one-time fix – it’s a continuous effort to balance seamless user experience with smart security.
How Perfios Solves ATO: Our Process Flow
At Perfios, we don’t just detect Account Takeover fraud – we outsmart it. Perfios’ TrustArmour identifies anomalies in digital behavior, device intelligence, and data patterns to stop fraudsters in their tracks. Here’s how the process works:
What Inputs Do We Capture?
We gather a wide range of signals at every interaction point to build a rich behavioral and technical fingerprint:
- Device ID & fingerprint
- Browser metadata
- IP address & geolocation
- Login pattern (velocity, time, channel)
- Session behaviors (keystrokes, mouse movement, clickstream)
- Transaction metadata (beneficiary details, amount, frequency)
What Checks Do We Perform?
TrustArmour runs 100+ real-time checks such as:
- Credential stuffing patterns
- Device mismatch detection
- Impossible travel & geo-velocity checks
- Session hijacking risk
- Data mismatch (email–phone–PAN)
- Behavioral anomaly scoring
Each interaction is scored using a weighted algorithm tuned for your specific risk appetite.
What’s the Final Output?
A real-time decision engine delivers one of three outcomes:
- Low Risk: User is verified and interaction is clean.
- Medium Risk: Trigger additional verification (OTP, biometric, etc.)
- High Risk: Session is flagged as high-risk and denied.
Perfios TrustArmour ensures that only legitimate users pass through – without adding unnecessary friction for trusted customers.
Conclusion: Stay a Step Ahead of the Takeover
In a world where digital identities are as valuable as currency, Account Takeover fraud isn’t just an IT problem – it’s a business risk, a trust destroyer, and a customer experience killer.
As ATO attacks evolve in stealth and scale, businesses can no longer rely on passwords or one-time checks. They need intelligent, real-time defenses that adapt to behavior, not just credentials.
Perfios TrustArmour empowers you to detect, decide, and defend – before fraudsters even know they’ve been spotted.
