Fraud attempt rates spiked during holiday season

Fraud attempts in the period from Thanksgiving Day to December 31 increased by 22%, while the number of overall transactions increased by 19%. Fraud attempt rates were highest on Thanksgiving Day (1.94%, up from 1.26% in 2016), Christmas Eve (1.78%, up from 1.48%) and December 21 – the cutoff date for express shipments – (1.67%, up from 1.49%).

The trends driving these peak fraudulent days include shipment cut-off, consumer traffic and buy online pick-up in-store transactions. The average ticket price of attempted fraud transactions over the entire holiday period in 2017 was USD 227, a 1% increase from 2016 (USD239). Reduced shipment prices, low-priced electronics and promotions are driving this trend. The overall volume of purchases recorded in January-October 2017 increased by 14%, compared to the same period in 2016.

ACI’s benchmark survey data is based on hundreds of millions of ecommerce retail transactions from global merchants using ACI ReD Shield.