According to TransUnion research, as many as 11% of all US-based igaming transactions made in 2023 were suspected targets of digital fraud.
As reported by Poker Industry PRO, the TransUnion 2024 State of Omnichannel Fraud Report demonstrated that the igaming industry was the most targeted with 10.9% of transactions, ahead of retail industry with 6.1% and video gaming with 5.5%.
This number saw a 9% increase year-over-year increase compared to 2022, when igaming was also found to be the most targeted industry of all when it comes to digital fraud.
With dozens of igaming operators like BetMGM Casino and PokerStars Casino now operating across multiple states, and millions of transaction requests being submitted each year, the industry is a natural attack target by potential fraudsters.
According to TransUnion: “Despite retail’s overall exposure to fraud, gaming (online gambling) experienced the highest rate of suspected fraudulent transactions in 2023 in the most (six) markets analyzed.”
Rampant Cases of Promotion Abuse
In 2023, it was discovered that igaming was the favorite sector for digital fraudsters in US and a number of other states, including Spain, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. On a global level, however, the number of attempted fraud cases in igaming dropped to 5.3%, a 30% decrease compared to 2022.
Of all the fraud cases detected in the US, over half included cases of promotion abuse, with 5.3% of all US igaming transactions in 2023 involving promotion abuse on some level.
Promotion abuse was also the most targeted on the global level in the retail sector, suggesting bad actors find this to be their favorite type of fraud across different industries.
According to PRO, global igaming was targeted by fraudsters far less on a global level, with both retail and video gaming showing significantly greater numbers in 2023.
How TransUnion Detects Fraud
The TransUnion report showed numbers based on extensive research conducted using TruValidate, a powerful suite of fraud protection software. The reported number of attempted fraud attempts comes as a result of different metrics, with several criteria involved in detecting such attempts.
Some of the reported transactions were detected as fraud and stopped in real time by the operators, many of which included promotion abuse attempts. In other cases, users attempted to violate corporate policies and were stopped in real time, while corporate policy breaches were detected after the fact in others.
Finally, a number of transactions were also determined as fraudulent by users who found evidence of fraud upon conducting their own research.
The international survey covered a number of markets in all parts of the world, including countries like United Kingdom, Mexico, Hong Kong, Zambia, Canada, Brazil, US, and many others, and it discovered different rates of fraud across different industries in all these markets.
TransUnion continues to be one of the best sources for data related to security in a variety of industries, and offers some of the top software for fraud detection and prevention in the entire world.
