(Direct Newsline)—Online marketers are expected to suffer more than $2.6 billion in fraud losses this year, roughly $700 million more than last year, which reflects a 37% overall increase in sales lost to fraud, according to survey findings released by CyberSource Corp., based in Mountain View, CA.

Fraud is keeping pace with the skyrocketing growth in online sales. The dollar amount increase in fraud reflects the rapid growth in online sales, while the rate of increase as a percentage of total sales loss has remained fairly stable for most companies. This year a projected 1.8% of total sales will be lost to fraud, up from an estimated 1.7% last year.

Next year overall online sales are projected to increase 39%, according to merchants’ projections.

Fraud generally has affected small and medium size businesses the greatest. Companies with annual online revenues between $500,000 to $5 million are expected to lose 2.5% of online revenues to fraud this year, compared to 1.9% last year.

Companies with greater than $25 million in annual revenues actually saw a decrease in fraud to 1.1% this year, down from 1.3% last year.

The median price on fraudulently ordered products is $150, compared to the median $100 price for legitimate product orders this year.

The rejection rate of orders for fear of fraud is projected to reach close to 6% this year, compared to 4.6% last year. For every confirmed fraudulent order, merchants are refusing to accept another four or five orders based on suspicion of fraud, according to the survey.

The number of merchants that use fraud-screening software increased 55% over the last 12 months. About 82% of merchants use an address verification service and 56% verify credit card numbers, according to the survey.

Online marketers are expected to suffer more than $2.6 billion in fraud losses this year, roughly $700 million more than last year, which reflects a 37% overall increase in sales lost to fraud, according to survey findings released by CyberSource Corp., based in Mountain View, CA.

Fraud is keeping pace with the skyrocketing growth in online sales. The dollar amount increase in fraud reflects the rapid growth in online sales, while the rate of increase as a percentage of total sales loss has remained fairly stable for most companies. This year a projected 1.8% of total sales will be lost to fraud, up from an estimated 1.7% last year.

Next year overall online sales are projected to increase 39%, according to merchants’ projections.

Fraud generally has affected small and medium size businesses the greatest. Companies with annual online revenues between $500,000 to $5 million are expected to lose 2.5% of online revenues to fraud this year, compared to 1.9% last year.

Companies with greater than $25 million in annual revenues actually saw a decrease in fraud to 1.1% this year, down from 1.3% last year.

The median price on fraudulently ordered products is $150, compared to the median $100 price for legitimate product orders this year.

The rejection rate of orders for fear of fraud is projected to reach close to 6% this year, compared to 4.6% last year. For every confirmed fraudulent order, merchants are refusing to accept another four or five orders based on suspicion of fraud, according to the survey.

The number of merchants that use fraud-screening software increased 55% over the last 12 months. About 82% of merchants use an address verification service and 56% verify credit card numbers, according to the survey.