Retail fraud attempts are projected to increase 14% during Cyber Weekend compared to last year, according to benchmark data from online payment provider ACI Worldwide based on hundreds of millions of merchant transactions. The fraud activity is likely to peak on Thanksgiving Day, according to ACI. The value of retail fraud attempts is expected to increase by 17% over Cyber Weekend, while the average value of an attempted fraud transaction is projected to increase 3%, from $236 to $243, ACI said. Over Cyber Weekend, ACI is projecting the following for overall transactions and fraud attempts, based on its data:
- Thanksgiving Day: the volume of transactions is expected to increase 23%, while retail fraud attempts are projected to represent 1.8% of all transactions
- Black Friday: the volume of transactions is expected to increase 19%, with fraud attempts accounting for 1.3% of them
- Cyber Monday: the volume of transactions is expected to increase 14%, with fraud attempts representing 0.93% of them
Ryan Wilk, VP at NuData Security:
“The holiday season is something to capitalize on for a lot of industries – so to for cybercriminals, who just like the rest of us do not exist in a vacuum. With the largest retail day of the year happening on Black Friday, there is more opportunity than ever for criminals to blend in amongst legitimate transactions, making off with goods, customer details or stolen funds before anyone has noticed. Organizations need to be aware of this, and make sure that their account security corresponds to the heightened threats by engaging with more robust access protocols, such as two factor authentication and passive biometric solutions.”
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