Hong Kong,
15
December
2022
|
11:15
Asia/Hong_Kong

Suspected Digital Holiday Shopping Fraud Decreases 62% in Hong Kong but Increases 82% Globally Compared to Rest of 2022

TransUnion analyzes early holiday e-commerce fraud attempt rates

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) released new findings today around global e-commerce fraud that occurred during the start of the 2022 holiday shopping season. The analysis found 15% of all global e-commerce transactions reviewed between the Thursday before Black Friday, November 24 and Cyber Monday, November 28 were potentially fraudulent.[1] For e-commerce transactions originating from Hong Kong, 7% were suspected fraudulent during that period, along with the Singles’ Day on November 11.

These findings are based on intelligence from billions of transactions contained in TransUnion’s TruValidate™ fraud analytics solution suite. The analysis determined that the average number of suspected digital fraud attempts on any given day during that holiday period globally was 82% higher than during the rest of the year (January 1 to November 23, 2022). In Hong Kong, it was 62% lower than the same period plus the Singles’ Day than during the rest of 2022.

The study also revealed the share of suspected digital fraud attempts for each individual day in the holiday shopping period for transactions in Hong Kong and globally.

Breakdown of Risky Transactions During Holiday Period

Day

Hong Kong

Globally

Friday, November 11*

25%

Thursday, November 24

21%

14%

Friday, November 25

26%

25%

Saturday, November 26

10%

21%

Sunday, November 27

17%

18%

Monday, November 28

25%

22%

* For Hong Kong only

“Fraudulent activity tends to be prevalent in online retail that has become an integral part of everyday life,” said Jerry Ying, chief product officer at TransUnion Asia Pacific. “Despite the fact that consumers have begun returning in larger numbers to in-person shopping following the gradual relaxation of social distancing measures, online retail continues to be the preferred means for many. It is important that online retailers ensure consumer security and privacy protections, which is important to consumers, but in a way which ensures a seamless shopping experience that minimizes unnecessary friction.”

TransUnion also revealed in the analysis the top types of potentially fraudulent e-commerce transactions during the holiday shopping season globally. This year, promotion abuse (where a user abuses site promotions, such as refer-a-friend and free giveaways) and account takeover (where someone other than the owner of an account uses it without permission) were the leading types of fraud attempts.

“While it is good to see the digital fraud originating from Hong Kong decrease, possibly amid improved consumer awareness and effective preventive measures taken by more businesses, there is no room for complacency,” said Ying. “As fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated, online retailers must continue to equip themselves with the proper tools to detect fraud at the first warning sign, and without inhibiting the consumer journey. They can leverage some holistic fraud solutions that are able to verify customer identity and authenticity at the very beginning of a transaction, without resulting in false positives that may cost them legitimate transactions.”

Majority of consumers express concern this holiday season

The decrease of suspected digital fraud coming from Hong Kong during the traditional busiest days of the holiday shopping season occurred as consumers express concern about being victimized. TransUnion’s 2022 Q3 Consumer Pulse Study conducted between August 19 and September 1 found that the vast majority of Hong Kong consumers (86%) are concerned with being victimized by online fraud this holiday season.

TransUnion monitors digital fraud attempts reported by businesses in varied industries such as gambling, gaming, financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail, and travel and leisure, among others. The conclusions are based on intelligence from billions of transactions and more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in TransUnion’s flagship identity proofing, risk-based authentication and fraud analytics solution suite – TruValidate™.

To find out how this data varies by select countries and regions, download TransUnion’s holiday fraud trends infographic.

 


 

[1] The percent of suspected digital fraud attempts are those that TruValidate customers either denied or reviewed due to fraudulent indicators compared to all transactions it assessed for fraud.