One in 40 shoppers admit to falsely claiming a refund when shopping online

One in 40 shoppers has admited to falsely claiming a refund when shopping online in the last 12 months according to new research by fraud prevention service Cifas.

The consumers admitted they had falsely claimed a refund for an online purchase by stating the item hadn’t been received. A further one in tenconsumers knew someone who had done this, making it one of the most prevalent forms of first-party fraud in the UK.

The survey also revealed that younger consumers were more likely to commit this type of fraud, with one in nine shoppers under the age of 45 believing this was a reasonable thing to do. Whilst one in three under the age of 45 did not recognise this type of activity as illegal.

Retail fraud remains one of the most common types of fraudulent activity. Between 2018-2020 there were over 42,500 instances of UK consumers filed to the National Fraud database for misusing their online retail accounts for reasons including falsely claiming a refund.

Fraud costs the UK economy billions of pounds each year, and those found guilty of committing fraud could face penalties including being filed to the National Fraud Database, and in some cases, a prison sentence.

Amber Burridge, Head of Fraud Intelligence for Cifas, said: “With uncertainty caused by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and high levels of inflation, some households may be worried about their income over the next few months and are looking for easy ways to make money. Committing fraud should certainly not be viewed as a possible way to do this, and there are real consequences for people caught doing so.”

“Fraud is never a victimless crime. Online retailers suffer from high levels of fraud each year, and these losses are often passed onto us as consumers in higher prices for goods and delivery.”

Question: ‘Have you or anyone you know done this over the last 12 months?’	All ages
Total responses	2000
‘Yes – I have done this’	47 (2.4% / 1 in 40)
‘Yes – I know someone else who has done this’	200 (10% / 1 in 10)

 

Question: ‘How reasonable or unreasonable would you view [this person’s] behaviour to be?’	16 – 45	All ages
Total responses	906	2000
Score indicating ‘reasonableness’	99 (11% / 1 in 9)	123 (6.2% / 1 in 17)

 

Question: ‘Do you believe [this person’s] behaviour is illegal’	16 – 45	All ages
Total responses	906	2000
Score not indicating the behaviour was illegal	303 (33% / 1 in 3)	448 (22% / 1 in 5)