Online fraud attempts in Europe are expected to rise 11% during this year’s Christmas shopping season

eCommerce retailers in Europe can expect an 11 percent rise in fraudulent activity during the upcoming Christmas shopping season, compared to the same period last year, according to research by global payments company ACI Worldwide. The sales are expected to increase by nearly the same rate (12 percent) in 2016.

„The peak day for fraud attempts is likely to be Christmas Eve, with an expected near fraud rate of 2.5%.”, the company says.

The predictions are based on an analysis of hundreds of millions of transactions from European online retailers.

The average ticket price of an attempted fraud transaction is likely to decrease by 4% (£181 in 2016 vs. £188 in 2015). Also, the most popular products fraudsters will attempt to buy are likely to be cosmetics, designers sports shoes and clothes.

“Our research shows that online fraud is increasing at a nearly equal rate to the general growth rate in eCommerce activity due to a continuing shift from in-store to online activity among in the UK and Europe. And because fraudulent activity is now considered to be an everyday occurrence, consumers and merchants must take every precaution as we head into peak holiday shopping season.” says Julia Roberts, Payments Risk Manager EMEA, ACI Worldwide. “A well planned and thought out fraud management strategy can increase revenue by as much as 20 percent.”

ACI Worldwide, the Universal Payments (UP) company, powers electronic payments for more than 5,100 organizations around the world. More than 1,000 of the largest financial institutions and intermediaries as well as thousands of global merchants rely on ACI to execute $14 trillion each day in payments.

Source: atmia.com