CHICAGO–New analysis of global e-commerce fraud that occurred between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday of this year was 82% higher globally than during the rest of the year and 127% greater than during the rest of the year for transactions originating in the U.S., according to TransUnion.
The findings are based on intelligence from billions of transactions contained in TransUnion’s TruValidate fraud analytics solution suite, the company said.
The analysis determined 15% of all global e-commerce transactions reviewed between Thursday, Nov. 24, and Monday, Nov. 28 were potentially fraudulent, TransUnion said, adding that for transactions originating from the U.S., 18% of e-commerce transactions during that period were suspected to be fraudulent.
“Fraudulent activity tends to be particularly prevalent in online retail during the holiday shopping season,” said Shai Cohen, senior vice president and head of global fraud solutions at TransUnion. “Despite the fact that consumers have begun returning in larger numbers to in-person shopping in the post-pandemic era, online retail continues to be the preferred means of holiday shopping for many. It’s important that online retailers ensure consumer security and privacy protections, which is important to consumers, but in a way which ensures a seamless shopping experience that minimizes unnecessary friction.”
Leading Types of Fraud
TransUnion said the analysis found the top types of fraudulent e-commerce transactions during the holiday shopping season were promotion abuse and account takeover .
“Online retailers must equip themselves with the proper tools to detect fraud at the first warning sign, and without inhibiting the consumer journey,” said Cecilia Seiden, vice president of the retail business at TransUnion, in a statement. “It’s more important than ever that these online retailers implement holistic fraud solutions that are able to verify customer identity and authenticity at the very beginning of a transaction without resulting in false positives that may cost them legitimate transactions.”
Consumer Concerns
According to TransUnion, theincrease of suspected digital fraud during the traditional busiest days of the holiday shopping season occurred as consumers express concern about being victimized. The company noted its 2022 Consumer Holiday Shopping Survey conducted in August 2022 found 54% of American consumers are concerned with being victimized by online fraud this holiday season, a 17% increase from last year.
For additional information on the analysis, go here.