Debby Garbato With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the move from offline to online transactions, detecting digital fraud attempts has become paramount for e-commerce providers.
As COVID-19 prompted shoppers to shift to online methods, digital gift card sales soared and increased the prevalence of fraud. While the heightened fraud activities affected all types of retailers, there are several factors that make it particularly concerning for food retailers, namely shopping frequency and innovation in the gift card category.
“Grocery stores do a significant portion of gift card sales and were one of the first channels to become heavily involved,” says Nathan Ehrlich, chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Retail Gift Card Association. “They prominently displayed them, and they’ve become a big draw, with people attuned to seeing them.”