Fraud attempts to jump 14% during 2018 peak holiday shopping season, benchmark data indicates

Fraud attempts will likely increase 14% during the 2018 peak holiday season between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, according to new benchmark data from ACI Worldwide.

The banking solutions provider revealed its projected increase in fraud attempts based on hundreds of millions of merchant transactions, including from some the world”s leading global retail brands.

Fraud attempts are likely to peak on Thanksgiving Day as transaction volume surges 23% compared to the same day last year, according to the projections. The volume of transactions on Thanksgiving Day is expected to surge 23% compared to Thanksgiving 2017, while fraud attempts are expected to hit a high 1.80% of transactions.

Transaction volume on Black Friday will likely rise 19% in 2018 compared to 2017, with fraud attempts affecting 1.30%, according to the company.

“Buy online, pick up in-store” and call centers will be areas of focus for fraudsters as cross channel fraud also continues to grow, the data showed. And the attempted fraud average ticket price, or a merchant”s average size of individual sales by credit card, is expected to increase 3% from $236 to $243, ACI said.

“As more consumers purchase big ticket items like smartphones, TVs and other electronics, we expect the attempted fraud average ticket price to be higher this year than in previous years,” according to Erika Dietrich, global director, Payments Risk, ACI Worldwide.

“Fraudsters will keep an eye on items that have limited inventory as it gives them an additional opportunity to steal and sell those items on the black market for a higher price so consumers and merchants alike must be vigilant in such cases,” Dietrich added.

How to combat fraud this holiday shopping season

In addition to publishing the benchmark study ahead of Thanksgiving, ACI is serving tips and tricks on how to stay out of harm”s way, and that includes for businesses too.

Regular customers are advised to always shop at reputable websites, avoid public WI-Fi networks, use biometric authentication wherever possible, avoid using the same credentials with multiple merchants, and even refrain from using public wireless charging stations to avoid “juice jacking,” where fake kiosks are rigged to steal personal data from devices.

ACI tell businesses, meanwhile, to identify where fraud has previously been an issue, monitor for threats with solutions designed to detect abnormal behavior, communicate fraud-countering strategies well across teams, profile customers, and employ rapid access to fraud intelligence to inform tactics in real time.