Britain hold top global identity theft ranking with £268.30 stolen per person

Adyen has published a global ranking of countries most at risk to identity theft.

The UK takes first position, with those consumers who have been a victim of identity theft losing an average of £268.30 over the past year. This is the highest amount of money lost per person across the 26 countries polled, and would mean that country lost £3.1 billion to identity theft.

The total amount lost to fraud per individual is much higher for those paying with digital currencies such as bitcoin online. Over three quarters (77 per cent) of consumers have been a victim of identity theft when paying with this method, losing an average of £369.60.

Norway follows Britain in the league table, with consumers who have been a victim of identity theft losing an average of £255.60, while Danes have been defrauded an average of £232.40. Nearly one half of Indians polled had been a victim of identity theft (44 per cent), though they typically were defrauded much smaller sums (£159.50). Conversely, 42 per cent of Americans have experienced this type of fraud, losing an average of £229.80.

Identity theft is sometimes referred to as payment fraud, and defined as a fraudster stealing someone’s credit or debit card number, or checking account data, and using that payment information to make an unauthorised purchase.

Adyen research has found that almost half (46 per cent) of UK consumers are finding online shopping a less attractive proposition due to the risk of fraud. Shoppers are trying to protect themselves, with 29 per cent saying they don’t permit their devices to remember payment details, while 27 per cent are ‘more conservative’ with new payment methods.

Retail Responsibility

As part of the study, Adyen polled 500 senior decision makers in UK retail and found that 33 per cent of businesses had experienced increased volumes of payments fraud over the past year. Over one third (35 per cent) said that fraudulent transactions and chargebacks were a significant cost to the business and one in five (17 per cent) said that increased fraudulent attacks were one of the biggest threats they faced.

Most Brits (64 per cent) want retailers to better communicate what they are doing to protect them from identity theft online, but worryingly just 53 per cent of businesses say that their fraud prevention systems are effective.

Almost a third (32 per cent) of business leaders said they were going to double the head count of their fraud and risk team in 2023, while 39 per cent are using artificial intelligence to help prevent fraudulent transactions and 41 per cent are using chargeback management software to help manage and reduce the costs associated with fraud.

“As inflation and the cost of living soars for consumers, and makes things even more difficult for retailers, neither can afford to fall for scammers’ traps,” said Alexa von Bismarck, president, EMEA at Adyen. “It’s important to raise awareness of the types of fraud to consumers, so that we can all be better prepared to spot when someone is trying to steal our identity – but retailers have a role too.

“Our three-step approach to fraud for business is to detect, prevent and respond. With the right technology in place retailers should be able to recognise genuine customers and spot fraudsters across all sales channels, while combining risk rules with machine learning will help to prevent fraudulent transactions.

“Every business is different and therefore its risk management system needs to be tailored to each unique set of challenges it may face day-to-day. Those with machine learning capabilities can utilise huge data sets and therefore build an effective strategy by covering all areas of risk.”

Top 10 ranking