Research conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of SPSS has found more than one third of online businesses (37%) say they have implemented new measures to reduce payment fraud via their online channels.

One in four are using customer behaviour analysis to identify unusual or suspicious activity, which could be linked to fraud such as picking out patterns of behaviour which have been found to indicate fraudulent activity in the past. And the same number is restricting purchases from certain locations or countries which they believe to be high risk.

The research also found that almost one fifth (18%) are reducing the number of payment methods in the belief it will help cut the risk of fraud.

This is in contrast to traditional businesses where one in four (27%) said they didn’t believe they were equipped to deal with increases in fraud.

“With the slump in high street sales, many view the internet as a guardian angel for retail sales figures,” says Haydn Lewis, SPSS’ vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Businesses are fighting on all fronts and every penny is precious.”

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