New Fraud Alert as Banks, Businesses Step Up on Digital Payments

Matilda Omonaiye/

A rising tide of digital payments is making banks more susceptible to fraud, says a report just released in the United States.

As payment companies expand ways for consumers to make digital payments, 62 per cent of North American merchants, bankers, and fin-tech providers expect more such payments within the next two years, says Forrester Research Incorporation in its “Understanding the Evolving Payments Landscape” report released Monday.

Commissioned by Visa Inc., the report also found that 46 per cent expect ways to make payments via the Web or on a mobile device will increase. This won’t be just for large merchants either. Forty-seven per cent say more small businesses will rely on a mix of credit and debit cards and digital payments.

Yet, with additional merchants accepting digital payments, acquirers and banks will face new fraud threats, the report suggests. Sixty-one per cent said that new payment technology makes them more susceptible to fraud. “One downside of this advancement in payment technologies is that as payments get more innovative, so do fraudsters,” the report says. “Businesses are acutely aware of the new fraud risks that come with the adoption of new payment technologies.”

When asked about the level of fraud concern for mobile banking bill-payments, 68 per cent said they were concerned or very concerned. Similarly, 60 per cent held that attitude about mobile wallets and digital wallets, and 58 per cent did for peer-to-peer payments.

Forrester’s recommendation to contend with fraud associated digital payments is to use a combination of tools and strategies. Among them is adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze payment data and fraud, using tokenization, and integrating fraud-management systems and research interface to make it easier to track potential fraud. Its other recommendations are to use advanced authentication techniques and to treat fraud management as a process and not as a single project.

The study, completed in March, surveyed 566 professionals internationally, encompassing one-third each from fin-tech providers, retail banking—including acquirers—and merchants.