Research
Independent, evidence-based analysis of fraud, scams and economic crime in digital commerce. Published work to date examines our first launch market in depth, because the patterns are easier to prove where the data is strongest. The behaviour it documents is not local.
Singapore recorded its first annual fall in scam losses while the region moved the other way, and Australian card fraud fell against a larger exposure base. Both point the same way: losses fall where the response is coordinated. Retail sits outside those arrangements in either market.
Generative AI removed the skill needed to fabricate evidence, and in doing so collapsed the line between the opportunistic customer and the organised syndicate. Return and claims fraud has industrialised, and no retailer can outspend that curve alone.
An evidence-based analysis of Australia's 2025 peak trading period showing that card-not-present fraud is becoming higher-value and more damaging to retail margins.
Retail fraud now costs Australian retailers around A$4 billion a year, making it a hidden but measurable driver of higher consumer prices and a growing economic burden across the sector.
A data-driven look at how digital fraud in Australian retail has accelerated into a multi-billion-dollar challenge, outpacing the growth of online commerce itself and hitting every major category.
In development
Every retailer measures fraud differently, so nobody can tell whether their numbers are good or bad. We are building a common reporting schema and a set of category benchmarks: members contribute aggregate figures, and get the category picture back, anonymised and never attributed to a named brand.
It is not open yet. Retailers who join now will be first in when it is, and will help shape what gets measured.
