Who Will Commit Fraud Against Your IT Clients — And When And Where?

By Ally Kutz, contributing writer

Fraud is more likely to take place online during the workweek, according to a new report from Sift Science, an organization that offers fraud detection and solution.

The United States of Fraud report, outlines three key areas of fraud in America: the “fraudiest person,” the “fraudiest behavior,” and the “fraudiest states.”

According to the report, 3 a.m. is the time of day when fraud is most likely to occur, with purchases of $20 or less being 2.16 times more likely to be fraudulent.

The report gives a profile of the “fraudiest person” in America, which the study would expect to be male; elderly or pretending to be elderly (the 85-90 age range was found to have the highest fraud rate); purchasing something with value $20 or less; shipping something to Delaware (found to have the highest fraud rate based on shipping address); and billing to a credit card based in Alaska (highest fraud rate based on billing addresses).

Common patterns found in relation to behavior by this person include trying different credit cards and having multiple identities, as users with two to four accounts linked to the same device are eight times more likely to be fraudulent. The profile also includes the fact that the average fraudster works regular hours — as most fraudulent activity takes place at 3 a.m. This person could also attempt to outsmart fraud barriers as a “sleeper” fraudster, who allows accounts to mature before committing the fraud.

As for the most fraudulent states, five showed up within the top ten on both the highest fraud by shipping addresses and billing addresses: Delaware, Florida, Nevada, Alabama, and Mississippi. According to the report, orders shipped to Miami-Dade County in Florida have the highest rate of fraud in relation to all other counties in the U.S.