Value of online fraud skyrockets and exceeds real sales by 60%

A recent survey by the operator Visa provided a worrying picture for Brazilian e-commerce: during the first half of 2024, the average amount involved in online fraud attempts was 60% higher than that of legitimate purchases.

This significant difference is not just a statistic, but a clear sign that digital scams are becoming more ambitious and potentially more harmful to companies.

This scenario unfolds at a time of continuous expansion of online sales in the country. That is, Visa's finding suggests that, as opportunities grow, risks evolve in sophistication.

Complementing the alert, the study also indicated that more than half of these frauds (55%) originated on mobile devices, pointing to the increasing adaptation of criminals to consumers' buying behavior.

Read on and learn more about the new scenario and its impacts!

The new face of digital fraud: more value, more mobile

The statistic of an average fraud ticket 60% higher than legitimate sales, pointed out by Visa, reveals a worrying strategic change: scammers are not only increasing the number of attacks, but are targeting individually more expensive scams.

And this growing volume of attacks, combined with the sophistication of the tactics, contributes to the highest average loss.

Among the most common types of online fraud identified by the survey are card cloning (40%), the fake scam known via WhatsApp (28%) and the fake service center scam (26%). All driven by social engineering, which exploits trust and remains a key weapon of these threats.

The high incidence of these more elaborate scams helps explain why the average amount per fraud, as detected by Visa, is significantly higher. However, that's not all: this escalation in the value of scams occurs in parallel with another clear trend: the migration of fraud to the mobile environment.

After all, the same Visa data shows that 55% of fraudulent actions already originate from smartphones and tablets. This concentration is not a coincidence: the convenience of buying and carrying out transactions on the cell phone, combined with a sometimes lower perception of risks on small screens, makes the user a preferred target.

The price of exposure: Direct impacts on your brand

The alarming data about the increase in value and Fraud volume they're not just abstract numbers. This is because they translate into tangible and often severe consequences for companies that operate in the digital environment.

In other words, the impact of fraud goes far beyond the lost transaction, affecting several areas of the business:

• Direct financial loss to the costs associated with the chargeback process, which may include fees and penalties;
• Hidden operating costs and increased customer service demand to deal with scam victims, raising the operating cost;
• Erosion of consumer confidence;
• Severe reputational damage, keeping potential customers away;
• Increase in marketing costs to attract and retain customers.

Therefore, neglecting protection against increasingly expensive and sophisticated fraud means exposing the brand to a vicious cycle of financial loss and damage to its image in the market.

The future of e-commerce requires vigilance

Faced with the increasing complexity and high cost of fraud, evidenced by recent data, relying solely on payment checks at the time of the transaction became an insufficient and risky strategy.

Thus, effective fraud prevention requires a shift to proactive security: an approach that involves constant digital monitoring, encompassing multiple touchpoints where the brand is exposed - from registered sites and domains to advertisements and profiles on social networks.

And that's where an integrated and specialized vision to identify and combat these abuses wherever they occur, such as Branddi's, became essential to protect not only sales, but the brand's own value.

The numbers don't lie: online fraud is more expensive, the mobile environment is a critical point of vulnerability, and inaction costs brands dearly. Therefore, investing in robust digital protection ceased to be an option and became a vital strategic investment.

What about your brand: is it equipped to neutralize threats that evolve as fast as the digital market?

To answer this, follow our posts more and come to the universe of Branddi's armor marketing.