19% Increase in Consumer and Retail Fraud in the Year Ending June 2024

Chad Reimers, general manager of fraud & ID at TransUnion in the UK, comments on the recent Office for National Statistics’ Crime in England and Wales Statistics:

"The latest Crime in England and Wales figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that while overall volume of incidents of fraud showed no significant change in the year ending June 2024, there was a 19% increase in consumer and retail fraud. This correlates with – and continues - recent trends observed in similar sectors via TransUnion’s State of Omnichannel Fraud Report, where we have seen risky transactions rise by 33% in Retail and by nearly 10% in the Communities sector (including market-places and online dating). This is also consistent with recent stats comparing H1-24 to H1-23 published by UK Finance (16% increase in total cases) and Cifas (15%), demonstrating that more efforts continue to be required to drive awareness for consumers and for organisations to implement the right onboarding and monitoring controls, using a range of data signals and technology.    

"Over the past year, the fraud landscape has continued to evolve, and we have seen shifts in fraudsters targeting retail and e-commerce sectors, particularly through chargebacks, delivery fraud, and a cross-over into the telco sector via handset delivery scams. Often these techniques then impact consumers of financial services organisations via the use of mule accounts and authorised push payment scams. Organisations need to ensure they are building data-informed customer journeys, which not only identify potential fraud risk, but also aim to increase trust with consumers, based on a holistic understanding of their identity, digital attributes, and relevant device footprints.”