TransUnion Philippines cautioned retailers against digital shopping fraud as suspected cases reached a record high of 12.8 percent of all e-commerce transactions last month.

The research firm and solutions provider said this was based on its data analyzed from 23 November, or the start of the holiday spending, until 27 November.

TransUnion said the 12.8 percent growth in suspected digital shopping fraud during that period was 19 percent higher than all the levels recorded in the previous months this year and 4.4 percent higher compared to 2022.

Christmas holidays

"The days leading up to the Christmas holidays mark the biggest shopping season of the year for retailers in the Philippines, but equipping themselves with the proper tools to detect fraud at the first warning sign is a year-round priority," Yogesh Daware, TransUnion Philippines chief commercial officer, said.

TransUnion said the major signs of digital shopping fraud are an unusual volume of activity from a single Internet Protocol or IP address to a customer's site in a short period and an unusual volume of activity from a single device to a customer's site also within a short time.

Holistic fraud solutions

"A critical way to minimize fraudulent transactions while at the same time protecting legitimate ones involves implementing holistic fraud solutions that can verify customer identity and authenticity at the very beginning of a transaction, including both account creation and login," Daware advised.

More consumers, on the other hand, also fear of being victimized by online fraud this holiday season.

TransUnion found 93 percent of its survey respondents shared such sentiment compared to 92 percent last year.