Global information and insights provider TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) is urging businesses to remain vigilant against digital fraud as it released its latest findings about online retail trends surrounding the 2020 holiday shopping season. The research shows a 33.41% decrease in suspected online retail fraud[i] coming from the Philippines during the start of the 2020 holiday shopping season compared to the same period in 2019. This mirrors the global rate which also slightly decreased from 15.70% during the 2019 early holiday shopping season to 15.54% during the same period in 2020. The findings are based on the online retail transactions TransUnion analyzed for its e-commerce customers during the traditional start of the holiday shopping season globally, from the U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday (Nov. 26) to Cyber Monday (Nov. 30).
“The likely explanation for this decline is that fraudsters recognized that e-commerce providers are doing a good job stopping fraud and have moved elsewhere for the time being,” said Pia Arellano, TransUnion Philippines president and CEO.
Heading into the holiday shopping season, the TransUnion Financial Hardship Study conducted from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5, 2020 found 37% of 9,515 consumers surveyed globally said they had been targeted by digital fraud related to COVID-19, a 28% increase from the same survey the week of April 13, 2020.
“Our survey shows fraudsters are increasingly utilizing the pandemic to prey on consumers facing mounting financial pressures. With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the move from offline to online transactions, detecting digital fraud attempts has become paramount for e-commerce providers,” said Arellano. “In order to avoid cart abandonment with all of these new sales opportunities, it is equally if not more important to ensure consumers are able to make friction-right or hassle-free digital transactions.”
In addition to the above findings, TransUnion released the following fraud trends to help businesses be more aware of which days and times of year to increase their fraud controls:
The percent of suspected fraudulent e-commerce transactions coming from the Philippines during the start of the holiday shopping season and entire year from 2018 to 2020
● 4.82% from Nov. 26 to Nov. 30, 2020; 4.61% so far in 2020
● 7.23% from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, 2019; 6.05% all of 2019
● 3.55% from Nov. 22 to Nov. 26, 2018; 3.04% all of 2018
The days with the highest percent of suspected fraudulent e-commerce transactions coming from the Philippines during the start of the 2020 holiday shopping season
1. Cyber Monday, Nov. 30: 5.16%
2. Saturday, Nov. 28: 5.09%
3. Sunday, Nov. 29: 5.01%
4. Thanksgiving, Nov. 26: 4.49%
5. Black Friday, Nov. 27: 4.47%
“The pandemic has caused global economies to decline but fraud has remained constant. Despite the economic downturn, digital transactions remain strong and we expect that fraudsters will follow this trend by targeting e-commerce companies and their customers. Businesses must provide friction-right identity verification solutions and consumers must do their part by keeping their personal information secure to combat this threat,” Arellano said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine House of Representatives has advanced House Bill 7805 (Internet Transactions Act), which aims to protect consumers and merchants engaged in internet transactions that include retail, online travel services, digital media providers, ride hailing services and digital financial services.
As a leading provider of information and insights in over 30 countries, TransUnion uses its Global Fraud Solutions to unite both consumer and device identities to detect threats across markets while ensuring friction-right user experiences. The solutions fuse traditional data science with machine learning to provide businesses unique insights about consumer transactions, thereby safeguarding tens of millions of transactions each day.
For an infographic about TransUnion’s holiday online retail findings, go here.
