Fraud Costs Multiply for Retailers

Retailers lost more than $3 per stolen dollar stolen in 2014, according to recent research.

The cost of dealing with fraud, including stolen merchandise, bounced checks and unauthorized credit card transactions, came at a price of $3.08 per dollar stolen this year, according to retail data in an annual study from LexisNexis.

The extra costs come from the expenses of fees and loss prevention efforts, on top of the dollar values stolen from stores, the LexisNexis report says.

The cost of fraud to retailers has been increasing annually, and merchants have lost about 0.7 percent of revenue due to fraud this year, according to the report. LexisNexis cites widespread data breaches among the reasons credit card fraud increased. The Home Depot was among the retail companies that had payment card numbers stolen through a data breach this year.

Mobile and e-commerce fraud is growing quickly, and retailers need to be aware that data breaches can cost them customers on top of other fraud-related expenses, such as having to ship more product to replace stolen merchandise, the report says.

“Stay ahead of data security requirements. Becoming complacent in an age of massive data breaches is both a financial and reputational hazard,” the report states.

To download the full LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud study, click here.