Forter: E-Commerce Fraud Around The World

May 14, 2024 by

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After a string of data breaches in the last several months—some of which were rather high-profile indeed—it’s easy to be particularly concerned about fraud in online commerce.

But what you may not know is that some places are more likely than others to come under fire by this growing threat, and a recent study from Forter suggests there are some unlikely candidates for the safest places around, and places that are not so safe.

The Forter study, which represented over one million e-commerce transactions engaged in over the course of 2014, shows there are some places that are much more dangerous for e-commerce than for others.

Perhaps the most staggering point is that Africa is pretty much ground zero for fraud, with an average fraud rate as much as 10 times that of the world’s average. Not too far behind, meanwhile, is South America, with a fraud rate over three times that of the world’s average. Coming in right at the world average is Asia, which is particularly noteworthy given the sheer number of people involved in e-commerce in the region, and Europe is actually just under the global average, making online shopping in Europe a surprisingly safe affair.

Yet even within these averages there were some strange deviations. While Asia is right around global average, it contains the most fraudulent country on Earth: Indonesia.

Second-highest South America contains the second highest incident country, Venezuela, and the fourth highest, Brazil. Africa, meanwhile, contains the third highest in South Africa, and surprisingly safe Europe actually contains the fifth-highest fraud country, Romania.

If you’re looking for safety in e-commerce, though, go to Scandinavia. Scandinavian countries held three out of the top five slots, with only New Zealand offering such safety in the number two safest slot.

Denmark is actually the least fraudulent country on Earth, with Finland at number three, Norway at number two, and Switzerland came in at number five. Interestingly, Switzerland is one of the biggest online shoppers as well, coming in at number five in the average purchase.

But for the biggest names in online buying, turn to the Middle East. Kuwait took the top slot, with the United Arab Emirates at number three and Saudi Arabia at number four. Hong Kong, meanwhile, took the second-place slot.

There was even a consideration of fraud rates by device; as it turns out, Android systems suffer over double the fraud of iOS, credited mainly to the open nature of the Android operating system. That openness allows fraudsters to better study the system and find the weaknesses therein for access.

So what does this mean? It means that online fraud is alive and well just about everywhere, but some places more so than others.

It means that there’s a clear importance of engaging in online protections—regular monitoring of bank statements and credit ratings, strong passwords and so on—and that the price of online shopping’s versatility and freedom is eternal vigilance. Those who are prepared will do the best here, and there’s always a need to watch out lest you—regardless of where you are—become the next victim of online fraud.

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