Black Friday has carved out an important niche for itself in Spain, as well as other discount days that have followed, such as Cyber ​​Monday. This is a series of days during which businesses launch additional offers, promotions, discounts or rewards for purchases, among other options. And of course many people take advantage of this date to buy the product or goods they want. This leads to an increase in the number of purchase operations and, as a result, fraud.

In fact, there has been an increase in e-commerce transactions made during the discount period around “Black Friday” (from November 24 to November 28 this year), which is suspected of: 23% of purchases made during this period in Spain were potentially fraudulent. That is, practically one in four transactions. This data shows an increase of 11%.

Spain recorded a different trend from that observed worldwide, where 15% of transactions in this period were considered fraudulent, which is reduction of 18%.according to study data conducted by TransUnion of the billions of transactions that pass through TruValidate’s fraud analytics solution, which it has accessed the Economist

The data from the studies also show that the average number of trials digital fraud during the period around Black Friday was 82% higher to another day of the year (from 1 January to 23 November 2022). And, once again, Spain ranks above it because an attempt at fraud in the national territory for five days of discounts and promotions on “Black Friday” is a Top 227%. until the rest of 2022. A figure that even exceeds the United States with 127%, Puerto Rico with 99%, Canada with 58%, Mexico with 51%, and the United Kingdom with 40%. In addition, Spain stands out from the negative trends recorded, for example Hong Kong which experienced a decrease of 62% or India which experienced a decrease of 43%.

The difference between Spain and other countries with more developed markets, such as the Anglo-Saxons, is explained because in the case of Spain there is “the challenges of adopting larger layers of digital identitysuch as device risks or digital behavioral risks, among others”, Lisette González, general director of TransUnion Spain told the Economist, which also emphasizes that the identity of the card end user must be verifiable. However, apart from that, in Spain, “Buy Now Pay Later” has started to spread and this, together with other online shopping solutions, has led to a migration towards online transactions which, without the appropriate layers, will continue. increasing fraud in our country”.

Major scam

In the buying period, fraud attempts in Spain were concentrated on November 25, coinciding with Black Friday, as in most of the countries analyzed with a few exceptions such as the UK, India and Brazil which occurred on November 28, which was during cyber Monday. In the national area, “Black Friday” focuses on 26% of transactions come from Spain. Globally, it fell slightly to 25%.

In addition, during these dates, various kinds of fraudulent actions take place. One of which is promotional abuseso that an unfair or improper use is made or taken advantage of unlawfully with a gift or discount, whereas the other is account theft. “The growth of this type of fraud is directly related to the digitization caused by online purchases in recent years and the generation of attractive promotions to connect target customers,” added Lisette González.

To be exact, “one of the major problems that have arisen with this digitization is account theft for fraudulent use. This affects not only banks and checking accounts, but also other types of sectors such as online gaming, telemarketers and even airlines. In fact, one of the common scams we encounter is the abuse of promotions to loyal customers through account theft, in which fraudsters use stolen accounts to enjoy loyalty bonuses, free bets in operator games, mobile terminal discounts, or use of airline loyalty. point”.

Regarding account theft, the various types of fraud. For example, “we encountered a purchase delivery scam, in which the fraudster is not seeking to profit with the money, but instead changes the shipping address so that it is received at the fraudster’s address and, therefore, makes a profit with the item purchased legitimately by either user. Types of fraud this is especially common in e-commerce or retail where the end user has an account with personal information.”

More attention about fraud

As scams increase in the discount period on the days around Black Friday, this year has also seen a general increase in concern on the part of customers as objects of fraudulent operations. Specific, 86% of Spaniards admit that they are afraid of falling victim to online scams. The percentages are again slightly higher in Spain than globally listed, at 85%, and in other countries such as the United States, where the world average is 85%, Canada with 77% or the UK with 76%.

However, maximum concern for 38% of Spaniards. This group realized that the fear of becoming a victim of this online scam made them stop using technology. Well-founded concern as 22% of those surveyed by TransUnion confirmed they had been the object of digital fraud in the last three months. Of these, 4% ended up being victims of an attack. Additionally, 18% admitted they were the target of a fraudulent attempt, but didn’t take the bait. However, it is surprising that 78% were unaware that they had been scammed.

Among the most common types of fraud operations suffered by consumers who are the target of attacks, are deception with 25%, followed by gift cards or cash with 23% and identity theft with 21%. Third-party fraud on legitimate e-commerce sites and charging credit card fraud or theft with 20% in both cases is also significant.

Apart from that, Spaniards are also worried about sharing personal information. For the majority, 70% of those surveyed, this concern is offset by identity theft, followed by invasion of privacy and unsolicited marketing communications with 63% and 40%, respectively.

What should be done to be more protected?

Exposure to the online or digital world poses a series of challenges that businesses using account theft detection technology must first deal with through the use of fraudulent devices. “One of the first protective barriers in digital channels consists of trying to identify the risks associated with the device and their possible relation to previous scams”, explains Lisette González. Likewise, it is important to verify the identity of the person, which can be done with a multi-layered strategy, based on the technology implemented for fraud prevention.

Online businesses should also include tools that help them detect fraud without impacting the customer experience. It is therefore important that the solutions implemented in online business facilitate the verification of user identity and legitimacy from the start of any transaction, avoiding costly false positives.

On the consumer side, it’s convenient protect your identity and verify the method of communication with businesses or banks outside of the web or their apps to avoid being affected by phishing, identity theft, or third-party fraud on legitimate e-commerce sites.