In its research conducted across a pool of more than 42,000 websites globally, CHEQ has found that more than a third of purchases on Black Friday were made by fake users.
Some of them were sophisticated botnets, fake accounts, malicious scrapers and crawlers, click farms, proxy users, etc. They’ve also uncovered a large number of illegitimate users committing eCommerce-related fraud.
Cheq Estimates That Damage From Fake Traffic on This Black Friday Could Exceed $1.2 Billion
The company ran hundreds of security tests on each website visitor to establish their identity. The results are worrying, to say the least. CHEQ estimates that the total damages from financial fraud, skewed data, and lost revenue on this Black Friday may reach $1.2 billion.
eCommerce Sites Are Particularly Vulnerable During the Holiday Season
The holiday season brings a rise in online commerce, and we will probably witness a cybercrime increase in that period because crime always follows the money. Cybercriminals generate revenues of $1.5 trillion annually.
eCommerce businesses are vulnerable because of their exposure to carding attacks, chargeback fraud, fake sign-ups, data breaches, and other types of illegal activities. Retailers could lose up to $130 billion by 2023 due to card-not-present fraud.
