Auto Loan Fraud Spikes as Social Media Tricks Proliferate

Scammers who share tricks with one another on social media are pushing auto loan fraud to record levels.

The dollar amount of car loans involving fraud grew last year by more than 16% to $9.2 billion, according to a report from risk management firm Point Predictive. In dollar terms that’s about 1.3% of all auto lending. The increase is much faster than the growth in total lending identified by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The rising numbers of swindlers is likely contributing to the record shareof borrowers that are falling behind on their auto loan payments, ...