PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Feb 12, 2014) - iovation, stopping Internet fraud and identifying good online customers by leveraging the world's largest device reputation database, revealed today that 39 percent of all online dating takes place on mobile devices. The company came to its findings by analyzing tens of millions of transactions originating from 235 countries from January 1 to January 31, 2014.
Furthermore, iovation determined that the top mobile devices consumers used to access dating sites in January 2014 were:
1. Android Phones -- 55 percent of all mobile transactions
2. iPhones -- 27 percent of all mobile transactions
3. iPads -- 11 percent of all mobile transactions
4. BlackBerry Phones -- 3 percent of all mobile transactions
In January 2013, 23 percent of all online dating activity was conducted from a mobile device. This means there has been a 70 percent increase in mobile online dating this year when compared to the same time period in 2013.
"The prevalence of mobile devices means people no longer have to rush home to see who's viewed their profile or sent them a message; they can partake in their online dating activities during the normal course of their day," said Molly O'Hearn, Vice President of Operations at iovation. "But just like you need to be wary of who's approaching you in the real world, in the online dating world, the same precautions need to be taken."
Heading into Valentine's Day, iovation warns of cybercriminals trying to take advantage of people looking for love. In January 2014, iovation found 1.2 percent of all online dating transactions were fraudulent.
The most common types of fraudulent and abusive transactions on online dating websites in January 2014 were:
1. Scams and Solicitations -- User takes advantage of the community to promote nonexistent services and products, or to solicit services from legitimate members.
2. Spam -- User is caught sending unsolicited bulk messages via emails, postings, instant messages, etc. to promote other products, websites or companies.
3. Profile Misrepresentation -- User posts inaccurate information in profile and/or uses bogus profile photos.
According to iovation, fraudsters at online dating sites are also seen conducting transactions at sites in a number of other industries, most notably financial services. This means, iovation financial services customers can identify potential fraud before it happens by analyzing fraud occurring within online dating sites and vice versa; unique insight reserved to iovation customers.
The findings resulted from iovation's analysis of all mobile transactions it protected for the online dating industry, including transactions coming through mobile browsers as well as those coming through mobile applications with ReputationManager 360 and its SDK (Software Development Kit) for iOS and Android. With ReputationManager 360, iovation works behind the scenes, in real time, to identify devices that have the likelihood to conduct fraudulent transactions while at the same time highlighting trustworthy customers.
About iovation
iovation protects online businesses and their end users against fraud and abuse through a combination of advanced device identification, shared device reputation and real-time risk evaluation. More than 2,300 fraud managers representing global retail, financial services, insurance, social network, gaming and other companies leverage iovation's database of Internet devices and the relationships between them to determine the level of risk associated with online transactions. The company's device reputation database is the world's largest, used to protect more than 10 million transactions and stop an average of 200,000 fraudulent activities every day. The world's foremost fraud experts share intelligence, cybercrime tips and online fraud prevention techniques in iovation's Fraud Force Community, an exclusive virtual crime-fighting network. For more information, visit www.iovation.com.
Contact Information:
CONTACT:
iovation Inc.
Connie Gougler
503-943-6748
