Ecommerce Fraud Prevention
Online retail transactions continue to set new year-over-year records. From ordering online and same-day pick-up to on-demand streaming, the pandemic has accelerated ecommerce to triple digit percentage growth, which is years in advance of previous predictions for both tangible and digital goods and services.
At the same time, this new reality and accelerated growth has also created one of the fastest-growing opportunities for bad actors and cybercriminals to perpetuate fraud, like account takeover, new account fraud, and synthetic identity fraud. This has led to retailers and consumers worldwide experiencing annual losses in the tens of billions of dollars each year.
As criminal tactics grow increasingly sophisticated, it’s more important than ever to incorporate anti-fraud tools into your transaction processes. Every dollar lost by a retailer to fraud is truly equal to $3.60 after total losses are calculated, which is something very few retailers can afford.
By layering in fraud prevention methodologies powered by breach data recaptured from the criminal underground, organizations can operate more efficiently and with greater accuracy.
378%
ATO rates for physical ecommerce businesses (those that sell physical goods online) jumped 378 percent since the start of the pandemic.1
28%
Based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. adult consumers, 28 percent of respondents would completely stop using a site or service if their accounts on that site were hacked.2
61%
Of consumers who confirmed being victims of ATO attacks, 61% said their e-commerce (both physical and digital goods and services) accounts were hacked.3
The SpyCloud Difference
SpyCloud proactively helps retailers identify and prevent account takeover, fraud connected to malware, account opening fraud, and card not present fraud, all while reducing friction and false positives. Its flexibility of implementation provides the greatest impact for improving the security for your most precious assets – your customer relationship and your profitability.
We understand that:
- A lack of effective cybersecurity measures can put your merchant account in jeopardy of being shut down or charged at a higher interest rate.
- Unaddressed security flags from credit card processors can lead to a retailer losing ground in profitability.
- Any additional cybersecurity responsibility forced on the customer can lead to diminished brand loyalty and loss of sales.
Assets
Total
Passwords
Email
Addresses
Data Types
Using the SpyCloud data, we discover anywhere from 3,000 to 11,000 direct matches per hour. Every one of those exposed accounts could have led to account takeover.
Account Takeover Prevention & Beyond
The surge in online fraud means that merchants can’t leave the burden of account security to their customers alone. SpyCloud believes in shedding light on otherwise undetectable vulnerabilities like high password reuse rates, malware infections, or recent breach exposures that fuel account takeover, so enterprises can act proactively to prevent fraud and secure their bottom line.
SpyCloud helps ecommerce retailers:
Prevent ATO
SpyCloud identifies when your consumers appear in a recent breach, also disclosing the breach type, severity, and current level of risk associated with their account. We also flag consumers whose devices are infected with malware, which means they are at extremely high risk of account takeover and online fraud.
Stop Synthetic Identity Fraud
Criminals get creative by taking bits and pieces of consumer identities and constructing synthetic user profiles, opening the door to fraudulent activity. SpyCloud spots the abnormalities and user information disparities, making it easy to detect synthetic identities.
Reduce Consumer Friction
Retail transactions need to be as seamless as possible. SpyCloud provides insights that allow organizations to let legitimate, low risk consumers transact friction free, while also flagging high risk or malware infected consumers for tailored interventions in alignment with business needs.
Investigate Online Fraud
Retailers use SpyCloud to investigate online fraud, which is often perpetuated using synthetic identities, and attribute threats to specific actors or groups.
Prevent Fraud, Without Adding Friction
SpyCloud provides multiple offerings to help you prevent account takeover, fraud tied to malware, card not present fraud, and account opening fraud at scale.
Detect and Reset Compromised Passwords to Prevent ATO
Check your consumers’ logins against billions of credentials recovered from the criminal underground, so you can identify matches and intervene proactively to lock criminals out of customer accounts.
Tailor the Customer Journey Based on Fraud Risks
Whether a customer creates an account or transacts via guest checkout, Identity Risk Engine can help you assess the risk that a criminal may be abusing their stolen information for online fraud.
Additional Resources

Infected User
Response Guide

Infographic: Retail Sector Identity Exposure
We examined SpyCloud’s database to see what data we could tie to companies in the Fortune 1000. Get details on the identity exposure of employees in the retail sector.

Reducing Identity Fraud in Ecommerce
How can merchants best balance the customer experience and fraud prevention? Our report offers a new approach for merchants to differentiate between low- and high-risk customers.