Most common e-Commerce fraud trends to watch this 2025 holiday season

 

As the end-of-year holidays approach, e-Commerce activity spikes - and so does online fraud. Fraudsters target shoppers seeking the best deals for the perfect gift. With the widespread availability of rapidly evolving technologies, they have increasingly sophisticated tools at their disposal to deceive consumers and businesses alike.

 

Sellers and brands wishing to protect themselves in this critical period have to understand the nature of these fraudulent tactics and take protective measures in place, including behavior-based fraud detection and prevention tools.

 

Read on to find out what kind of fraud trends to expect in the 2025 holiday season!

  

 

Increased fraud volume and sophistication

Typically, there are two peaks in the holiday season when fraudulent activities surge. The first is right at the start, around Thanksgiving, and specifically between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the days that usually mark the start of the holiday shopping season.

 

The second peak comes right before Christmas, in the week of 18-25 December. Interestingly, fraud levels on 25 December tend to be especially high.

 

Hiding amongst this surge of traffic, fraudsters exploit various technologies to dupe consumers and harm businesses while masking their trail. For example, AI-powered bots allow fraudsters to act rapidly and bypass failsafes like CAPTCHA codes, while VPNs and proxy servers enable them to hide their identities.

 

 

| Fraud levels on 25 December tend to be especially high

 

 

Rising malicious bot activity

A recent report indicates that bot activity in general is rising on e-Commerce platforms. During the 2024 holiday season, 57% of all traffic was generated by bots (both good and malicious), which constitutes an 8% rise from the previous year.

 

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority, 71% of this activity can be attributed to malicious bots. They perform a variety of tasks, including price and content scraping, account takeovers, fake registrations, cart abandonment, and carding attacks.

 

 

Illustration of a malicious bot attacking a laptop

 

 

Previously existing bot defense mechanisms prove to be less effective, as bots have evolved and can now often bypass them. For example, CAPTCHA codes designed to prove that a user is human can be outsourced to CAPTCHA farms and thus eliminated as obstacles.

 

Mobile platforms tend to be more vulnerable to bot attacks, as their defenses are traditionally weaker and therefore easier to conquer by malicious bots. However, fraudsters are also increasingly likely to use traditionally trusted sources like ISPs as the origin point of their attacks to mask their intentions and identity.

 

 

Emergence of AI-enhanced bots

AI allows bots to gain more human-like qualities, evading traditional bot barriers and lowering the threshold of entry for new cybercriminals. No wonder that a 35% surge of bad bot transactions was noted in 2024 across all industries, not just e-Commerce.

 

AI-enhanced bots can perform tasks typically associated with humans, like natural language use, solving image- and voice-based security measures, adapting behavior according to the specific requirements of a situation, etc.

 

These features accelerate bot development cycles, leading to more frequent, sophisticated, and aggressive attacks. As generative AI covers the lack of existing skills, an increasing number of fraudsters can participate in bot attacks, even without a significant background in IT.

 

 

| In 2024, a 35% surge in transactions by bad bots was noted across industries

 

 

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Trending scams and fraud

 

Trademark infringements in ad campaigns

 

 

Popular attack vectors

Trying to capitalize on the heavy promotions surrounding Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s a surge in fake account creations and subscriptions around this time. For these attacks, fraudsters usually employ distributed botnets or proxy networks to avoid detection.

 

As noted earlier, mobile networks are particularly vulnerable to coordinated bot attacks, because they tend to rely on APIs and lack browser-based interactions, which cancels the use of CAPTCHA and JavaScript validation methods.

 

 

Illustration of a hacked mobile device

 

 

Key takeaways for 2025

Businesses must take fraud detection and prevention measures to protect themselves and prepare for seasonal fraud spikes, like during the holiday shopping season. Make sure that your measures are capable of handling the increasingly sophisticated attacks.

 

Use AI-powered, behavioral-based detection tools to ensure that your system can detect even the most sophisticated bots. Similarly, monitor proxies, VPNs, and suspicious browsers to block access to decentralized bot systems.

 

In addition, put extra attention on your vulnerable mobile networks and enhance their security, as these channels are the most prone to bot attacks.

 

However, not all attacks come to your systems specifically. In fact, an entire army of fraudsters, including counterfeiters and grey market sellers, would be more than happy if they never crossed paths with you, because that means they can continue their activities undetected, damaging your brand’s reputation and stealing your hard-earned revenue.

 

Therefore, you must also set up robust, multi-layered protection strategies to monitor and detect fraudulent and IP-infringing content online. This includes counterfeit and lookalike product listings, fake ads, IP-infringing webshops, unauthorized listings on various marketplaces, and much more.

 

During the busy seasons starting with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when the amount of fraudulent listings rapidly increases, it’s more important than ever to proactively monitor your key marketplaces and engage in swift takedowns to limit the exposure of your prospective clients to fake content.

 

This is essential for maintaining your control over pricing, keeping Amazon’s buy box out of the hands of infringing third-party sellers, and earning your customers’ trust.

 

 

Conclusion

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and with it, the inevitable rise of e-Commerce fraud. Combining traffic validation and online brand protection measures ensures that your brand can enjoy the benefits of the season while safeguarding your budget, maximizing ROI, maintaining customer trust, and protecting your invaluable intellectual property.

 

Contact us if you’d like to learn more about setting up a comprehensive online brand protection program for your brand.