Callsign, has announced the results of its annual scams research, revealing the true extent of the damage that scams have to business reputation.
Data from 8000 consumers polled in nine countries – 1,000 in the UK – about their experiences of scams has identified a 40 per cent increase in UK consumers who have received a scam message compared to 2021. 23 per cent of those who have received a scam message, this was enough for them to stop using the company or service associated with the message.
The research has found that over a third (38 per cent) of UK respondents have lost money to scams, and 35 per cent haven’t received any form of reimbursement from their bank after being a victim of fraudulent activity.
The exponential global growth of scams means that the damage to reputation can spread quickly and have a lasting impact. Financial institutions recognise this with 67 per cent saying they face challenges retaining customers if they are associated with an online scam.
Consumers also think they’re good at spotting scams and they trust themselves more than banks to detect them with over half (53 per cent) believing they do the best job of protecting themselves from scams. They put banks just slightly ahead at 57 per cent.
The types of ‘scams’ consumers said they can protect themselves from included all types of fraud such as phishing for PII data, romance scams, investment fraud, bots or malware for account takeover purposes, and other undisclosed vectors. However, while the definition of what constitutes a scam varies across regions and financial institutions (FIs), only authorised fraud, such as authorised push payments (APP) – are generally considered by a FI to be a scam.
There appears to be a language gap between FIs and consumers when it comes to scams. It is possible the risk to corporate reputation is being underestimated by FIs, because banks’ reputations are being impacted by fraud more broadly than just scams.
The scale of the challenge businesses face in protecting their customers is significant. Scams operate across all geographies and channels and via a range of tactics – from malware and phishing to bot attacks – which is why nearly half of organisations (44 per cent) said they had difficulty in measuring and understanding how to combat fraud and scams. Businesses must invest beyond basic threat intelligence capabilities in this complex landscape.
But the root of the scam problem is a disconnection between FIs and customers in the form of the language gap. To resolve this, financial organisations need to develop a comprehensive understanding of what a consumer deems to be a scam and how they want to be supported, which will help FIs and other organisations address the challenges of fraud and scams head on.
Steve O’Malley, Chief Revenue Officer, Callsign, said: “Organisations need a comprehensive approach including using anti-fraud technologies that address all kinds of fraud. This is the first step – along with finding a common language with customers around the threat of scams – towards repairing and rebuilding the trust that fraud can damage so easily, and better protecting a business’ hard-won reputation.”
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