TransUnion Observes Travel and Leisure Industry Fastest Growing Target for Fraudsters in Canada

• Suspected digital fraud attempt rate from Canada increased 88% from 2019 to 2021
• Nearly four in 10 (40%) Canadians stated they have been targeted by a digital fraud from Oct. 2021 to Jan. 2022
• 43% of Canadians stated they conduct the majority of their transactions online
• Concerns about fraud is one of the top reasons Canadians say they abandon online shopping carts (41%)
• The suspected digital fraud rate for transactions coming from Canada in the travel and leisure industry increased 116% from 2020 to 2021
• The suspected digital fraud rate for transactions coming from Canada in gaming and financial services increased 85% and 74% from 2020 to 2021, respectively 

Fraudsters are continuing to seek out industries that are seeing an immense growth in transactions. According to TransUnion’s 2022 Global Digital Fraud Trends Report, the travel and leisure industry saw the largest growth in the percentage of digital fraud for transactions coming from Canada in 2021 with an increase of 116.0% year-over-year (YoY)[1]. This became especially prevalent as economies normalized from the height of the pandemic and Canadians began to travel again. Gaming (85%) and financial services (74%) were the second and third industries with the largest growth in the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts coming from Canada.

According to TransUnion’s recent survey, more than one in four Canadians (43%) stated that they conduct between 51 – 100% of their transactions online, including retail, finance and business.  As consumer adoption of digital channels continued to accelerate, the rate for all types of suspected digital fraud attempts from Canada increased 21.5% YoY from 2020 to 2021 and 88% from 2019 to 2021. This is much higher than the increase in suspected digital fraud attempts globally at 9% and 52% respectively. Furthermore, according to TransUnion’s recent survey, four in 10 (40%) Canadians stated that they have been targeted by a digital fraud scheme and nearly nine in 10 (89%) Canadians are concerned about falling victim to digital fraud.

“As Canadians shifted from brick-and-mortar retailers to e-commerce platforms over the course of the pandemic, fraudsters gravitated toward where consumers were increasingly spending both time and money,” said Patrick Boudreau, head of identity management and fraud solutions at TransUnion Canada. “Fraud continues to impact a variety of different business sectors and fraudsters are always looking for the next opportunity. It’s more important than ever for businesses to be vigilant and to take pre-emptive measures to better serve customers and protect their bottom line.”

Concern around security is top-of-mind for Canadian consumers when it comes to their digital experience.

• 91% of Canadians stated that confidence that their personal data will not be compromised is important when choosing who to transact with online;
• 67% stated that fraud concerns would cause them not to return to a website;
• 41% stated that a top reason for abandoning online shopping carts is due to fraud concerns;
• 26% cited concern around not having enough security on the site is a top reason for abandoning their cart.

Top Industries Targeted by Suspected Digital Fraud – Canada vs. Global

Globally, financial services and travel and leisure ranked as the top two industries with the largest growth in the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts from 2020 to 2021. Digital fraud in the travel and leisure sector saw the greatest YoY increase and grew 68.4% with credit card fraud as the predominant type – which is where a customer uses a fake or stolen credit card for a purchase, resulting in a chargeback to the site.

Year-over-Year Growth Rates of Digital Fraud Attempts (2020 – 2021)

Digital fraud in financial services remains a prime target for fraudulent activity worldwide and grew 33.5% YoY, making it an increasing area of concern for businesses and consumers alike. The number one fraud type in financial services is true identity fraud – where the victim is a real person and a fraudster uses a stolen identity to commit fraudulent transactions. As such, many financial institutions have taken steps to put greater security measures and authentication solutions in place, especially since digital banking is regarded as the industry standard.

TransUnion came to its conclusions about fraud against businesses based on intelligence from billions of transactions and more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in its flagship identity proofing, risk-based authentication and fraud analytics solution suite – TransUnion TruValidate™. The percent or rate of suspected digital fraud attempts are those that TruValidate customers either denied or reviewed due to fraudulent indicators compared to all transactions it assessed for fraud.

For more information and insights on global fraud trends, please download the report.

About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionable picture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.® TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people in more than 30 countries. Our customers in Canada comprise some of the nation’s largest banks and card issuers, and TransUnion is a major credit reporting, fraud, and analytics solutions provider across the finance, retail, telecommunications, utilities, government and insurance sectors.

[1] The percent or rate of suspected or risky fraudulent digital transaction attempts are based on those that TransUnion customers receiving TruValidate services have either denied or reviewed due to fraudulent indicators compared to all transactions it assessed for fraud.