Each quarter, my company Sift produces an index report to better understand the latest online fraud trends, including how businesses and consumers are affected, emerging fraud tactics, and how fraud impacts consumer behavior when making purchases online. For the past two quarters, we’ve seen a surprising generational divide emerge: Gen Z— born between 1997 and 2012—expresses more willingness than any other generation to commit digital fraud.
In Q4 2023, 42% of Gen Zers admitted a willingness to engage in first-party fraud, where they dispute a purchase with their payment provider despite the purchase being legitimate. This was significantly higher than any other generation—the next highest was millennials, with only 22% admitting to engaging in first-party fraud. This quarter, we discovered that 33% of Gen Z respondents either know someone who has participated in payment fraud or have done so themselves. Again, these rates are much higher than other generations.
