2020 E-commerce Fraud Data: Digital Trust & Safety Index recap

Throughout the tumultuous year that was 2020, fraud never came to a grinding halt the way that many businesses had to. Despite most e-commerce companies being forced to pivot to new channels and scale rapidly for ballooning digital demand, fraudsters simply adapted, too, introducing new attack methods and more complex, sophisticated strategies for stealing. 

In each of our Digital Trust & Safety Index reports released last year, Sift’s in-house experts and data scientists examined how transaction volumes soared and plummeted. They investigated how fraud methods shifted in various industries, and as the year marched on, how continuous economic unrest and erratic consumer behaviors caused by the pandemic played a role in those findings.

Here’s what we learned.   

Q1: A Rapidly-Changing Fraud Landscape

Fraudsters constantly change their tactics to throw trust and safety professionals off their scent, making it critical that fraud management teams remain in-the-know about emerging fraud trends.

This report covers:

• Factors driving the 73% increase in payment fraud that occurred in 2019
• The true “holiday” season for fraudsters
• The payment type most commonly associated with fraud—and it’s not credit cards
• Which industries were the biggest targets for fraud in 2019

Download it here.

Q2: Content Abuse and the Fraud Economy

Content abuse in e-commerce is a significant problem that can lead to brand abandonment, data breaches, and considerable financial loss. But spam and scams are often tough to pinpoint before it’s too late—making them a formidable issue for any online merchant hosting user-generated content and forums.

This report covers:

• How an illicit internet supply chain connects content abuse to all types of fraud, and its direct influence on account takeover and payment fraud
• The pervasive problem that drives 56% of consumers to abandon brands and businesses
• Which verticals are being heavily targeted by opportunistic fraudsters in pandemic-era e-commerce

Download it here.

Q3: Account Takeover Fraud and the Growing Burden on Business

Between 2019 and 2020, account takeover fraud rose by 282%, making it more crucial than ever that merchants understand how to preserve customer loyalty and defend them from account takeover fraud—without stunting growth or disrupting streamlined user experiences.

This report covers:

• Why it will always be merchants that feel the long-term sting of account takeover, and which verticals are being targeted by ATO fraudsters
• Consumer expectations for data security, and how some sites and apps aren’t measuring up
• Insights on how ATO shapes consumer behaviors, buying decisions, and brand loyalty
• The tactics and timing ATO fraudsters rely on to exploit security loopholes you may not have known existed

Download it here.

Q4: Holiday Fraud and the Shifting State of E-commerce

COVID-19 forced e-commerce companies to scale for surging digital demand—giving fraudsters a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and security limitations as merchants struggled to adapt. New data shows that fraudsters are launching more sophisticated, higher-value attacks that are harder to detect—and far more costly to recover from.

This report covers:

• How exploding e-commerce demand during lockdown has driven daily average fraudulent purchase values up by 70%
• What surging Black Friday order volumes mean for the future of online shopping and e-commerce fraud
• Expert insights about fraud data and trends in 2020, and how trust and safety teams can prepare for another year of ups, downs, and unknowns

Download it here.