Fraud Attempts Expected to Spike During Holiday Shopping Season

Beware holiday shoppers. Attempts at fraud will peak on Thanksgiving Day this year.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Nov 21, 2018

Holiday shoppers beware. A new study from ACI Worldwide revealed a projected 14 percent increase in fraud attempts during the upcoming 2018 peak holiday season. As consumers and merchants prepare for the busiest shopping season of the year, the projected data shows that fraud attempts are likely to peak on Thanksgiving Day and last through Cyber Monday.

Overall volumes of purchases are expected to rise 18 percent while the value of purchases is expected to decrease by 19 percent, according to the data set. Cross channel fraud will continue to grow, which means fraudsters have begun to target "buy-online, pick up in-store" and call centers will be areas of focus for fraudsters. 

The average amount of a fraudsters efforts is expected to increase three percent to $243, compared to $236 last year.

Thanksgiving Day has been named the most dangerous day for online shoppers and merchants with the volume of purchases on Thanksgiving Day expected to increase 23 percent. The volume of fraud attempts on Thanksgiving Day is expected to be high at 1.8 percent, according to ACI Worldwide.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be almost as risky with increased fraud attempts raising to 1.3 percent and .93 percent respectively. 

“As the market matures and EMV technology makes card-present fraud harder, we expect overall fraud attempts to increase at a lower rate this year than they did in the last two years,” Erika Dietrich, global director of Payments Risk at ACI Worldwide said in a press release. “In addition, 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.”