The Business And Technology Network

Fraud targeting older Americans’ money or cryptocurrency increased by double-digit percentages in 2023.

The number of complaints of elder fraud increased by 14% during the year, while the associated losses rose by 11%, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) said in a Tuesday (April 30) press release.

Individuals 60 years and older reported 101,068 of these scams in 2023 and lost $3.4 billion to fraud, with the average victim losing $33,915, according to IC3’s 2023 Elder Fraud Report released Tuesday.

These figures are likely lower than the actual numbers because many of these crimes go unreported and because about half of those that are reported do not include the victim’s age, per the release.

“Combatting the financial exploitation of those over 60 years of age continues to be a priority of the FBI,” FBI Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall, who leads the Bureau’s Criminal Investigative Division, wrote in the report.

Tech support scams were the most widely reported form of elder fraud in 2023, with 17,696 victims reporting this scam, according to the release. Other common forms of fraud include personal data breaches (7,333), confidence and romance scams (6,740), non-payment and non-delivery scams (6,693), and investment scams (6,443).

“Call centers overwhelmingly target older adults, to devastating effect,” the report said.

Investment scams were the costliest form of elder fraud during the year, with victims losing $1.2 billion, the release said. The next most costly types of fraud were tech support scams ($590 million), business email compromise scams ($382 million), confidence and romance scams ($357 million) and government impersonation scams ($180 million).

“Investment fraud involves complex financial crimes often characterized as low-risk investments with guaranteed returns,” the report said. “They comprise of advanced fee frauds, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, market manipulation fraud, real estate investing and trust-based investing such as cryptocurrency investment scams.”

Noting the problem of financial crimes against older Americans, senior citizen-focused financial platform Charlie introduced a suite of fraud protection tools called FraudShield in November 2023.

Designed specifically for older Americans, these tools include the ability to toggle off online transactions, to have a partner on an account to help keep tabs on fraud threats, and to add a personal touch to their homepage so they don’t get scammed by fake bank websites.

The post Complaints of Fraud Targeting Older Americans Rose 14% in 2023 appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Microstrategy unveiled plans to launch a decentralized identity solution at a business presentation, according to an influencer on X. 

Online used car retailer Carvana reported “milestone” first quarter (Q1) results on Wednesday (May 1), fueling a 30% surge in its stock price. This strong performance comes on the heels of a challenging period in 2022, during which Carvana shares plummeting by 97%. 

“We not only set new all-time company records [this quarter], but we also became the most profitable public automotive retailer in the U.S. for the first time,” Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia told investors and analysts on a call accompanying its results. 

Garcia added: “The last few years have resoundingly proven just how difficult it is to build a business this complex, to drive it to scale [and] achieve strong unit economics and to deliver high quality customer experiences. Building a business like Carvana is very hard, and hard is the ultimate competitive mode.” 

In terms of key metrics, the Arizona-based company reported robust year-over-year growth of 16%, with 91,878 retail units sold in Q1 2024. This resulted in total revenue surpassing $3 billion, a 17% increase compared to the previous year. The company achieved record Q1 net income of $49 million.

This record performance has impacted its inventory dynamics, with the average time from posting a vehicle on the website to customer purchase decreasing to just 13 days in March, nearing an all-time monthly low. 

As Garcia noted, “Our inventory is currently smaller than we would like, resulting in less selection available to our customers. All else constant, we believe this is negatively impacting our sales volumes today.” 

To address this challenge, the retailer has begun ramping up production nationwide, with a focus on expanding selection levels for customers in the near term. 

Additionally, the company aims to enhance its reconditioning capabilities — it has capacity for 1.3 million units per year, over 3 times its current volume — which are crucial for scaling but require substantial physical infrastructure and regulatory approvals.

This will be done by leveraging its existing infrastructure and developing a playbook to optimize reconditioning operations, including the conversion of ADESA wholesale auction locations into Carvana reconditioning centers. The successful conversion of an ADESA site in Buffalo, New York, highlights the company’s progress in this regard, management pointed out, with Carvana’s proprietary technology, CARLI, facilitating efficient vehicle reconditioning.

Moreover, the company said it is committed to reducing retail costs, including reconditioning and transport expenses, while also focusing on growing its wholesale business. The acquisition of ADESA in 2022 has bolstered Carvana’s position in the wholesale vehicle auction market, allowing the company to enhance its offerings and develop a new digital auction platform, ADESA Clear.

Looking ahead, Garcia emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance between seizing growth opportunities and ensuring flawless execution, while driving innovation, optimizing operations, and delivering seamless customer experiences in the automotive retail sector.

“The last couple years have been absolutely brutal, but they have cleared the competitive field quite a bit. And also, as a result of us getting it wrong [in previous years], we’re very well positioned from an infrastructure perspective and forward growth looks good,” he said. 

The post Carvana’s Inventory ‘Constrained’ as Online Used Car Retailer Posts Record Q1 appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

EBay’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) eked out slight gains in the most recent quarter, but the tally of 131 million active buyers in the quarter was unchanged.

And growth may be a longer term story – a year-end story, in fact, amid uneven consumer spending. 

Investors sent the shares lower in after-hours trading on Wednesday by about 5%.

CEO Jamie Iannone said on the conference call with analysts, “We remain on track for GMV growth turn positive by Q3 or Q4 of this year.”

Motor parts and accessories was once again the largest contributor to growth among focused categories, said the CEO. GMV was $18.6 billion in the quarter.

AI in Focus

Iannone detailed the rollouts of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, detailed in previous PYMNTS coverage, as AI-powered shopping enables “users to browse a nearly unlimited list of personalized recommendations based on implicit and explicit interest signals, such as the user’s style preferences and sizes.

“We’re increasingly leveraging generative AI to change how we work driving meaningful productivity and efficiency improvements across our organization,” he added.

First-party advertising grew by 28% during the quarter, as total ad revenue represented 2.1% of GMV.  Off-site ads, which Iannone said are gaining traction in beta, “emerged as a material contributor to first-party ad revenue growth in Q1.”   

Uneven Demand, Initially

CFO Steve Priest said on the call that there had been “uneven demand environment in our major markets to start the year. … We continue to navigate through a tough environment,” for discretionary e-Commerce, particularly in the U.K. and Germany, two of the company’s largest markets.

U.S. GMV was basically flat during the first quarter, according to commentary during the call.  

For the current quarter, GMV is forecast to be flat to down 2%.

During the question-and-answer session with analysts, management noted that cross-border commerce remained strong and represented about 20% of GMV.

Asked later in the call about the health of the consumer, Iannone said, “We operate in a really dynamic environment given the macro challenges globally with inflationary pressures and interest rates. … Q1 started off a bit softer because of the weather, but then we had a reasonably good tax period. I would say the backdrop remains weaker in Europe than it does in the U.S.”  

In a macro environment, non-new merchandise can “be a great avenue for selling in terms of consumer demand,” he said. Used and refurbished goods reached 40% of total GMV across the company’s marketplace, he noted during the call.

For all PYMNTS retail coverage, subscribe to the daily Retail Newsletter.

The post EBay Targets Gains in Back Half of 2024 Amid ‘Tough’ Discretionary Spending Environment   appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

The Chelsea vs Tottenham live stream sees Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino welcoming his old side to Stamford Bridge. Here’s how to watch from anywhere.

On May 1, DeFi protocol Pike Finance corrected its description of a recent exploit and said it was not caused by a USDC vulnerability, as previously stated.

According to the company’s latest statement:

“The term ‘USDC vulnerability’ was inaccurate for summarizing last week’s exploit.”

Instead, weaknesses in Pike’s contract functions, particularly issues related to the handling of transfers on Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), allowed the incident to occur.

It added that the root cause of the exploit was unrelated to the “functionality and robustness” of Circle’s USDC enabled by CCTP or Gelato — a smart contract automation protocol.

Pike Finance originally admitted full responsibility in its explanation of the first April 26 attack, noting the exploit was a “consequence of the protocol [team’s] improper integration” of third-party technologies and that the responsibilities for certain checks lay “solely on Pike as an integrator.”

However, when retrospectively referring to the first attack following the April 30 incident, it misleadingly said it may have been related to a “USDC vulnerability.”

Each attack led to sizeable losses for Pike Finance.

The April 30 attack saw the theft of 99,970.48 ARB, 64,126 OP, and 479.39 ETH. The incident resulted in a loss of $1.7 million, according to Certik data.

The earlier April 26 attack involved the loss of 299,127 USDC on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism, according to Pike Finance statements.

Cause of each attack

The first attack on April 26 resulted from functions related to USDC transfers on CCTP as automated by Gelato. The vulnerability allowed attackers to change the receiver’s address and amounts, which Pike Finance processed as valid due to its improper integration of the features.

Pike Finance said that its auditing partner, OtterSec, informed it of the issue. The protocol added that it was unable to address the vulnerability before the attack.

The second attack occurred after Pike Finance upgraded its spoke contracts to pause the network. The update ultimately caused the contract to behave as if it were uninitialized, allowing attackers to upgrade the contract, bypass admin access, and withdraw funds.

Pike Finance is one of many DeFi projects that have fallen victim to exploits. However, April showed reduced losses from scams and exploits, according to recent reports.

The post Pike Finance admits to error following $1.7 million exploit, denies fault of USDC appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Epos Now is reportedly considering a sale of a minority stake in the business and other strategic options.

The British payments group is discussing the options with advisers, Reuters reported Wednesday (May 1), citing unnamed sources.

The privately held business is seeking a valuation of up to $1.5 billion, and potential investors are likely to include private equity firms, according to the report.

Epos Now did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The company offers a complete point-of-sale (POS) solution that powers 63,000 business locations across the globe, according to its website.

The solution includes a POS terminal, built-in printer and card machine and can be used as a standalone system or connected to hundreds of apps for payments systems, accounting software and other capabilities, the site said.

Among the industries for which Epos Now builds POS solutions are retail and hospitality, per the site.

In another recent move in the payments space, Canadian payments FinTech Nuvei said April 1 that it is set to become a private company in a $6.3 billion deal with private equity firm Advent International.

“This transaction marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Nuvei, and we are glad to partner with Advent to continue to deliver for our customers and employees and capitalize on the significant opportunities that this investment provides,” Nuvei CEO Philip Fayer said at the time in a press release.

On Feb. 1, payments technology firm Worldpay became an independent business when former owner FIS finalized the sale of the business to private equity firm GTCR, which owns 55% of the business. FIS retains a 45% stake in Worldpay.

“As an independent company, Worldpay is committed to bringing greater levels of value, innovation and service to clients through increased investment in product development, technology and client solutions,” the company said at the time in a press release.

It was reported in December 2023 that dealmakers expect the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) climate to warm as economic conditions improve. That report noted that 2023 was a bleak year for M&A, with total M&A volumes the lowest since 2013.

The post Report: Epos Now Considers Sale of Minority Stake, Other Options appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Solana (SOL) co-founder Raj Gokal is naming two blockchains that have a head start in the sovereign blockchains crypto sub-sector.

At a TOKEN2049 panel discussion, Gokal says that Avalanche (AVAX) and Cosmos Hub (ATOM) are “the clear winners” with regard to sovereign blockchains.

A sovereign blockchain is typically under the control of a single entity, unlike public blockchains such as Bitcoin (BTC) which are decentralized.

According to Gokal, Cosmos Hub and Avalanche have some differences that set them apart.

“Cosmos is an old-school project and it’s not that coordinated. I think Avalanche brings the coordination and the ability for developers to configure their own chains how they want. So I like that about their design. And obviously, it’s a function of Emi’s [Gün Sirer] DNA and his great vision as a founder.”

On the Avalanche founder Emin Gün Sirer, Gokal further says,

“I think Solana loves competition. We love fierce competition, we love honest competition from people who have ferocity about the ideas they’re bringing to the table.

And I think Emin is probably the most ferocious layer-1 [blockchain] founder that I know. And he never backs down from a fight. But he will shake your hand behind the stage and he’s friends with everyone. And he’s been very supportive of a lot of founders.

So I think as an individual I have a lot of respect for Emin and what he’s brought to the space.”

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The post Solana Co-Founder Says Cosmos and One SOL Rival Are Clear Winners in Building Sovereign Blockchains appeared first on The Daily Hodl.