Fraud attacks up 163 percent in 2015

London - With e-commerce continuing to grow, so does the fraud attacks, according to a new study by the Global Fraud Attack Index, and 2015 reported an increase of 163 percent in the number of attacks by fraudsters, growing two and a half times in a three-quartered period.

The quarterly index created by PYMNTS.com and Forter, benchmarks the rate of fraud attempts on US merchant websites by looking at the types of fraud, the geography of fraud and the merchant segments being attacked. It found that fraudsters find digital goods, luxury goods, food and beverage, clothing, electronics the most attractive.

The biggest driver of overall fraud were carried out by ‘bots’, accounting for 75 percent of cases, and while location manipulation represents less than 20 percent of all fraud attacks that originate outside of the US or Europe, it represents more than a third of the potential cost of fraud.

Overall, the survey reveals that e-retailers revenue share, which is targeted by fraud attempts has apparently grown by 94 percent. The luxury good sector was one of the few categories that experienced a rise in the average transaction attack amount, rising by 4 percent in the year, while fraud attempts on digital goods increased by 2.5 times from the first quarter of 2015 to third quarter of 2015.