[February 18, 2016]

Study Finds eCommerce Fraud Attacks Up 163% During 2015

The worst fears of online retailers has been confirmed with data just released today: in 2015, the number of attacks by fraudsters was up 163 percent - growing two and a half times in a mere three-quartered period.

This data is part of the newly released Global Fraud Attack Index^TM - a collaboration between PYMNTS.com and Forter. This quarterly Index benchmarks the rate of fraud attempts on U.S. merchant websites by looking at the types of fraud, the geography of fraud and the merchant segments being attacked. The goal is to provide a consistent baseline for assessing worldwide trends in payment and commercial eCommerce fraud that is actionable for merchants who are the targets of these fraudsters.

"As payment technologies have become more and more sophisticated over time, so too have the fraudsters who attempt to take advantage of those technologies," said Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS.com. "We hope that the Index helps mechants understand how the threats are changing as these fraudsters try to keep one step ahead of the technologies designed to put them out of business."

In the first edition of the Global Fraud Attack Index, PYMNTS.com and Forter examined the occurrence of eCommerce fraud in the merchant segments that fraudsters find most attractive: digital goods, luxury goods, food and beverage, clothing, electronics.

"At the same time the attacks on merchants have increased, we've seen fraud attempts as a percentage of revenue for online merchants grow 94% from 2014 to 2015," said Michael Reitblat, CEO of Forter. "It's obviously never been more important for retailers to understad fraudsters and to protect their businesses from these growing threats."

Other important data points from the Global Fraud Attack Index are:

• The biggest driver of overall fraud is Botnet attacks on digital goods, which amount to 75% of all potential fraud losses in the segment
• The luxury goods segment is one of the few categories that experienced a rise in the average transaction attack amount, rising by as much at 4%
• While location manipulation represents less than 20% of all fraud attacks that originate outside of the U.S. or Europe, it represents more than a third of the potential cost of fraud.

To access the complete Global Fraud Attack Index, please click here.

ABOUT PYMNTS.com
PYMNTS.com is reinventing the way in which companies in payments share relevant information about the initiatives that shape the future of payments and commerce and make news. This powerful B2B platform is the #1 site for the payments and broader commerce ecosystem by traffic and the premier source of information about "what's next" in payments. C-suite and VP level executives turn to it daily for these insights, making the PYMNTS.com audience the most valuable in the industry. It provides an interactive platform for companies to demonstrate thought leadership, popularize products and, most importantly, capture the mindshare of global decision-makers. PYMNTS.com …. where the best minds and best content meet on the Web to learn "What's Next" in Payments and Commerce.

ABOUT FORTER

Forter provides new generation fraud prevention to meet the challenges faced by modern enterprise eCommerce. Only Forter provides fully automated, real-time Decision as a Service fraud prevention, backed by a 100% chargeback guarantee. The system eliminates the need for rules, scores or manual reviews, making fraud prevention friction-free.

The result is fraud prevention that is invisible to buyers and empowers merchants with increased approvals, smoother checkout and the near elimination of false positives - meaning more sales and happier customers. Behind the scenes, Forter's machine learning technology combines advanced cyber intelligence with behavioral and identity analysis to create a multi-layered fraud detection mechanism.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160218005921/en/

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