PYMNTS Daily Data Dive: Fraudsters Capitalizing On Digital Space

Fraudsters are winning the cybersecurity war, and are increasingly targeting digital goods transactions, which show a three-fold increase in attacks over the four quarters ending March 2016. Food and beverage transactions are another popular target; this sector shows a 116 percent increase during the same time period.

The latest data from the Global Fraud Attack Index™, a PYMNTS and Forter collaboration, show some disconcerting numbers for retailers but burgeoning business for the cybersecurity sector nonetheless. The number of attacks on U.S. sites that originate from other parts of the world have also risen dramatically by 200 percent in the four quarters since March 2016.

Here are the data

200% | The growth in the number of fraud attacks originating from outside the U.S.

185% | The percentage spike in fraud connected with digital goods transactions

137% | The percentage increase in fraud attacks in the last four quarters

27 | The number of attacks per 1,000 from botneks in Q1 2016, which was an increase of 20 from Q2 2015 when the number of attacks was just seven

x 3 | The rate of increase in digital goods fraud. The rate of fraud doubled for luxury goods over the four quarters ending March 31, 2016