( Wine Searcher) - Online theft is growing across categories with fraudsters taking a keen interest in alcohol.

Because of the increase in the use of online sales tools, sneaky swindlers are ever more effective when on the prowl. According to the New York City-based Forter, which analyses industry data for fraud prevention, there has been an increase in fraud for online holiday sales that is expected to increase to approximately 20 percent in 2018.

According to Forter's CEO and co-founder, Michael Reitblat, fraud attack rates overall had risen 13 percent in 2017. He adds that inaccurate fraud prevention strategies have cost online retailers more than $200 billion annually due to the high price of credit card fraud and falsely declined orders.