Zahid Anwar, associate professor of computer science and Challey Scholar, is featured in a recent MoneyGeek article titled “Identity Theft and Fraud,” by Kelli Bamforth.
Anwar was among 12 experts from across the country to be quoted in the story. He was included in the portion of the May 4 article titled “Expert Advice on Cybercrime and Credit Card Scams.”
“Cybercrime is indeed skyrocketing,” Anwar said. “Recent Federal Trade Commission data shows that in 2021, consumers lost $5.8 billion to fraud, which is a 70% increase over the previous year. A typical victim suffers a financial loss of more than $500. We are also seeing a whole new host of cruel scams becoming popular, such as fraudsters pretending to be collecting for charities or masquerading as government officials or employees of your utility company.”
He addressed several questions, including:
• What are warning signs that you have been a victim of a credit card scam?
• Which populations or transaction types are most affected by credit card scams?
• Are there credit cards that are more insecure than others?
• Am I responsible for credit card purchases I don't make?
“Major credit card networks such as Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express provide different types of fraud prevention services such as proactive fraud monitoring, online transaction verification and contactless cards,” Anwar said. “You may also buy a separate identity theft protection and monitoring service for a price. Several companies offer these. The U.S. government also offers an identity restoration service called ‘IdentityTheft.gov’ that can help a victim report and recover from identity theft.”
Anwar earned his bachelor’s degree at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology in Pakistan, and his master’s degree and doctorate in computer science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Anwar’s areas of expertise include cybersecurity policy, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
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