How vulnerable is your business to cybercrime and online fraud?

Oct 18 2023 | PayPal Editorial Staff

Cybercrime is everywhere and it is a growing threat. Understanding the different types of fraud, and how they apply to your sector, can help you keep your business and your customers safer.

Online crime costs the world nearly US$1 trillion per year.1 Criminals target every sector in every country, whether your organisation is a local small business or a large, multi-national enterprise.

  • 82% of enterprise-sized businesses reported an increase in fraud attempts in 2021.2
  • 3.3x Every dollar lost to fraud costs around 3.3 times as much in time and other expenses.3
  • 1 in 5 logins is an account takeover attempt.4
  • HK$3 billion lost in online fraud in Hong Kong in 2021.5

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Different types of businesses attract different types of crime. For example, fast fashion, and eCommerce in general, are vulnerable to so-called friendly fraud, where cardholders dispute legitimate transactions. Online gaming suffers badly from account takeover attacks and from card-testing fraud.

Understanding the methods that criminals use to target your business can help you protect your profit and your customers.

Our new guide can help. Identifying and Navigating Top Fraud Risks describes different online fraud techniques and how to defend against them. It also discusses the most common attack types in some key business sectors.

1 Center for Strategic & International Studies (2020), The Hidden Costs of Cybercrime, https://www.csis.org/analysis/hidden-costs-cybercrime
2 Cybersource (2021), 2021 Global Fraud Report, https://www.cybersource.com/en-gb/solutions/fraud-and-risk-management/fraud-report.html
3 LexisNexis (2020), 2020 True Cost of Fraud Study – E-Commerce/Retail Report, https://risk.lexisnexis.com/insights-resources/research/2020-true-cost-of-fraud-retail
4 Arkose Labs (2022), 2022 State of Fraud & Account Security Report, https://www.arkoselabs.com/resourceasset/2022-state-of-fraud-and-account-security-report/
5 South China Morning Post (2022), Hong Kong online scam victims report losing HK$3 billion…, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3166852/hong-kong-online-scam-victims-report-losing-hk3

The contents of this site are provided for informational purposes only. The information in this article does not constitute legal, financial, IT, business or investment advice of any kind and is not a substitute for any professional advice. You should always obtain independent, professional accounting, financial, IT and legal advice before making any business decision.

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