In 2017, every dollar of fraud cost merchants USD 2.77, up from USD 2.40 a year ago. The report also found that the volume of fraud has risen sharply - from a monthly average of 206 to 238 successful fraudulent transactions, and from 236 to 257 prevented fraudulent transactions, while the level of fraud as a percentage of revenues has also inched upward from 1.47% to 1.58%.

For merchants with digital and physical goods, the LexisNexis Fraud Multiplier has increased 63% since 2016, rising from USD 2.18 to USD 3.56. With ecommerce and mcommerce merchants, a slight drop occurred in reported debit-card fraud, likely the result of chip/pin use. However, credit card fraud remains high, with debit card fraud remaining high among merchants selling both physical and digital goods.

When discussing the top three challenges that merchants are facing, identity verification remains the highest for the online channel. However, top mobile channel issues vary, suggesting more complexity in this channel.

The 2017 True Cost of Fraud report, for the retail sector, includes a survey of over 650 risk and fraud executives in multichannel retail organizations from US, and details current trends in retail fraud and the effects these have on the ability of merchants to prevent and detect fraudulent transactions.