E-commerce worldwide is experiencing a growing number of customers committing fraud, according to an analysis by the American cybersecurity firm LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
The company attributed this to an economic slowdown on one hand, and to organised crime activity on the other, noting that international gangs are targeting the recruitment of individuals to carry out fraud during online shopping or to make their identities available to criminals.
The company operates a digital network for verifying identities and online purchases, and the analysis was based on 116 billion transactions that took place over the past year.
According to the analysis, genuine customers — as distinct from fraudsters using stolen or forged identities or engaging in other forms of fraud — accounted for 38.8% of all recorded fraud cases globally in 2025, an increase of nearly 2 percentage points compared with the previous year. In Europe, such cases, known as "first-party fraud", reached approximately 52%.
Jason Lane-Sellers, an expert in online fraud crimes at the company, said: "On one hand, the crisis is pushing some people to look for opportunities to commit fraud. There are groups that criminals deliberately target, such as people with poor credit ratings or students.
The perpetrators give these individuals an extra 50 euros and explain to them how to carry out the scheme." A spokesman for the German E-Commerce Association confirmed that this phenomenon also affects the German market, saying:
"In reality, students or retirees are being recruited to participate in fraud methods. Many of them do not realise they are becoming part of a fraudulent operation — they simply receive a financial offer in exchange for providing their data."