Top U.S. cities for online fraud origination
ThreatMetrix announced data ranking the top U.S. cities for the origination of online fraud. The data reveals that Santa Clara, CA, is the nation’s top spot for online fraudsters, followed by San Jose, CA, Chesterfield, MO, New York, NY and Atlanta, GA rounding out the top five.
Leveraging a sample of transactions across more than 1,900 customers, 9,000 websites and 500 million monthly transactions from the ThreatMetrix Global Trust Intelligence Network (The Network), ThreatMetrix reviewed activity from Q3 2013 (July 1-Oct. 1), scoring each transaction with a fraud risk of low, medium or high. High risk transactions often require additional fraud screening or are rejected by businesses. The top 100 U.S. cities were then ranked based on their percent of high and medium risk transactions.
The data shows that the Bay Area in particular is the epicenter for online fraud, with three cities ranked in the top 10 list for origination of online fraud – Santa Clara (1), San Jose (2) and Fremont (6).
The top 10 list of U.S. cities for online fraud origination:
1. Santa Clara, CA
2. San Jose, CA
3. Chesterfield, MO
4. New York, NY
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Fremont, CA
7. Tempe, AZ
8. Dallas, TX
9. Rochester, NY
10. Miami, FL
“With so many technology companies and extensive technology intelligence in the Bay Area, it’s no surprise to see a high rate of online fraud in the area,” said Peter Liske, vice president of product management at ThreatMetrix.
“As cybercriminals become more sophisticated and identify new ways to compromise businesses and consumers, cities with high technology know-how and connectivity rates are more likely than ever to be attractive targets for cybercriminals. To protect against online fraud, any business operating online needs to take preventative measures and have a strategic fraud screening process in place,” Liske added.
Cybercrime has evolved into a severe risk for businesses across industries – including e-commerce, banking, social media, insurance, government, enterprise and others. According to recent data from The Network, account takeover attempts and payment fraud nearly doubled in a six-month period.
Major cities with a high level of transactions are particularly vulnerable to these risks, as cybercriminals take advantage of the opportunity to steal credit card numbers, identities and passwords for personal profit.