The report found the results worrisome for consumers and merchants, as roughly half of respondents experienced credit card fraud and 30% had their purchase wrongly declined, with a corresponding negative impact on their satisfaction and return shopping probability.

For U.S. consumers, e-commerce credit card fraud is nearly an inevitability. Overall, 49% of consumers reported credit card fraud. But that percentage grew with age, suggesting that becoming a victim is inevitable. For groups aged 31 or older, a majority of consumers were the victims of credit card fraud.

Unfortunately for merchants, the obvious costs of fraud aren't the only costs as 49% of customers reported they do not return to an online retailer after a fraud incident has taken place, meaning that the merchant pays the cost of the fraud and future customer loss.

But that's only part of the cost of fraud. Merchants often decline orders out of caution, and previous research conducted by Riskified found that fear of fraud costs even more than the fraud itself, as merchants unnecessarily reject good customers.

This survey bears that out, as 30% of respondents reported having an order declined, and 57% of those declines happened to returning customers, squandering the good will merchants built. The survey further found roughly 42% of shoppers who experienced a decline moved on, either abandoning the purchase completely (28%) or shopping with a competitor instead (14%).

Even shoppers who aren't declined may retreat from a purchase: 84% of respondents reported abandoning an order before completing the purchase, with many shoppers blaming the checkout process. Another 37.3% abandoned a purchase because of a complicated checkout while 34.9% blamed a bad mobile experience.

"It's really difficult for any single retailer to effectively manage their fraud, and this survey shows just how damaging it is when they fail to do so," Eyal Raab, vice president of business development for Riskified, said. "Merchants need to be able to meet their customers where and how they want to shop, but offering options like omnichannel fulfillment or digital gift cards opens them up to threats. Making accurate decisions and approving good orders not only increases revenue now, it also makes happier, more loyal customers in the future."

Additional key findings from the survey include:

• 48% of households with an annual income of $1 million or more have reported legitimate purchases as fraudulent. This was by far the highest level of false claims of fraud, with no other income bracket even reaching 40%.
• Meanwhile, lower income households were least likely to be reimbursed for charges fraudulently made with their cards. Only 35% of lower income households were refunded the full amount of the fraudulent activity.
• Among victims of credit card fraud, 29% blamed the merchant that approved the fraudulent purchase.
• Cart abandonment continues to be a big problem for merchants with 84% of survey respondents reported abandoning a purchase in progress. While some of that is unavoidable for merchants – unexpected shipping costs and a change of heart led to significant cart abandonment – a difficult checkout process is often the culprit.
• More than 71% of cart abandoners blamed the checkout process – for being overly complicated, not mobile optimized or seeming untrustworthy – as the reason they abandoned their purchase.
• Shoppers also watch their wallets: 38% of respondents admitted they have or may have created multiple email addresses to gain additional online shopping discounts. While not illegal, this can seriously effect merchants' bottom lines.