Account Takeovers: The Silent Revenue Killer

Account takeover (ATO) fraud ranks among the fastest-growing threats to digital marketplaces and gig platforms. The mechanics are simple:

• A fraudster steals or purchases a legitimate user's login credentials.
• They take over the account and impersonate the rightful owner.
• They exploit that trusted account to extract value by placing fraudulent orders, abusing refunds, stealing funds, or triggering chargebacks.
• Because the activity occurs within what appears to be a legitimate account, it often goes undetected until significant damage has already been done.

The simplicity can make the process almost invisible to those being attacked, which is why ATO is often called the silent revenue killer.

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How Account Takeover Impacts Digital Marketplaces

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The Problem is Scaling Fast

ATO has grown from a niche concern into a top priority for risk and fraud teams. Over the past few years, the trend line has moved in one direction. ATO fraud has grown 141% between the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2025, then climbed another 21% in the most recent year alone. Over that same period, ATO attacks hit 83% of organizations at least once, and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded $16.6 billion in total cybercrime losses in 2024.

Digital marketplaces sit squarely in the crosshairs. ATO attack rates on marketplaces surged 90% year over year, roughly 4× the cross-industry average of 24%. Fraudsters target gig and marketplace platforms for a reason: these platforms hold stored payment methods, account balances, and a long history of legitimate transactions to hide behind.

The Hidden Cost Runs Deeper Than the Fraud

The headline loss tells only part of the story. The real damage hits downstream, where ATO eats into margin. Every $1 lost to chargebacks costs platforms $3.75-$4.61 in total, a 37% increase since 2021. Gig delivery platforms feel it most, running a chargeback ratio of roughly 3% against an industry average of 0.1-0.2% for direct restaurant orders, or 20× higher. Disputes are climbing too, with chargeback dispute rates spiking 78% year over year in the third quarter of 2024.

Customer trust takes the hardest hit. More than 80% of consumers say they would stop using a platform after an ATO event. One refund abuse case shows how well the fraud scales: a single fraudster device accessed more than 200 accounts, generated $5,014 in transactions, and reclaimed $4,163 through fraudulent refunds, an 83% success rate.

Continuous Identity Verification

ATO climbs toward the boardroom. Gartner predicts that 20% of large enterprises will run dedicated cyber-fraud fusion teams by 2028. The raw material for these attacks keeps growing too. In 2025, 77% of US data breaches exposed full Social Security numbers, the highest share in six years. And the reputational stakes stay high: 62% of consumers say they would shop less with a brand after a fraud experience.

The common thread across these trends is that passwords are no longer sufficient as proof of identity. Once credentials are stolen, shared, or purchased, organizations need additional signals to determine whether the person attempting to log in or initiate a transaction is the legitimate account owner. That is why many organizations are moving beyond credential-based authentication toward identity-centric approaches that combine device intelligence, possession signals, behavioral context, and continuous risk assessment throughout the customer journey.

Prove uses a modern approach by continuously evaluating identity across logins, account changes, and high-risk transactions. By combining multiple trusted signals instead of relying on credentials alone, organizations can make it significantly harder for attackers to turn stolen usernames and passwords into successful account takeovers while preserving a low-friction experience for legitimate users.

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