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11/07/2026 8:45 pm
TL;DR: Consumers are worried about online fraud this holiday season, with 84% concerned about AI-based fraud and 81% worried about shopping fraud overall, while 79% would still sign up for loyalty accounts if onboarding took 30 seconds or less, according to Prove Identity’s 2023 survey-based report. The operational lesson is that trust and conversion now have to be engineered together, not treated as competing goals.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Prove Identity: 2023 Online Shopping Report Shows 84% of Consumers Are Concerned About AI-Based Fraud This Holiday Season
By the numbers:
- 84% of consumers say they're concerned about AI-based fraud attacks this holiday season.
- 85% said they rely on their mobile phones to access their accounts.
- 51% of respondents have been a victim of identity fraud or know someone who has.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should retailers reduce fraud without making checkout too slow?
A: Use progressive verification.
Q: Why do mobile-based identity flows appeal to consumers and fraudsters alike?
A: Mobile feels convenient because it shortens login and sign-up steps, but that same convenience can hide weak recovery paths and phone-based compromise.
Q: What do security teams get wrong about guest checkout and account creation?
A: They often assume guests are lower risk simply because they avoid account creation.
Practitioner guidance
- Implement progressive verification at account creation Start with low-friction identity checks for low-risk sign-up, then step up assurance for password resets, payment enrolment, and high-value actions.
- Use mobile as context, not proof Treat mobile access as one signal inside a risk model, not as a substitute for stronger identity assurance.
- Separate recovery authority from convenience Review which account recovery paths can reissue access with too little assurance.
What's in the full report
Prove Identity's full report covers the survey detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Survey methodology and the two October 2023 Dynata survey samples behind the findings
- Breakdowns of consumer concern by fraud type, including AI-based fraud, SIM swap, and identity fraud
- Additional detail on account creation behaviour, guest checkout preference, and mobile authentication habits
- Prove Pre-Fill onboarding context for teams evaluating faster sign-up design
👉 Read Prove Identity's report on consumer concern over AI-based fraud and checkout trust →
AI-based fraud and holiday checkout risk: what teams need to do?
Explore further
11/07/2026 9:13 pm
AI-based fraud is now an identity governance problem, not just a fraud problem. The report shows consumers are worried about fraud, but they still accept low-friction journeys when the experience is fast enough. That means onboarding design, assurance policy, and fraud controls are now part of the same control plane. Practitioners should treat consumer identity as a governed lifecycle, not a one-time login event.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 79% of organisations have experienced secrets leaks, with 77% of these incidents resulting in tangible damage, according to Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, which shows how often identity risk persists without basic inventory control.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How do you know if identity verification is actually working in ecommerce?
A: Look at fraud rate, conversion, recovery abuse, and account quality together. If fraud falls but guest checkout climbs sharply, the control may be too disruptive. If sign-ups rise but account abuse also rises, assurance is too weak. Effective identity verification improves trust without forcing customers away from the journey.
👉 Read our full editorial: AI-based fraud is reshaping holiday checkout trust
