Fraud and identity theft among major worries for Kiwi customers
Data expert Experian has released its Global Insights Report into customer sentiment in the Asia-Pacific region going into 2022.
The study, which involved 3,000 consumers and 900 businesses in 10 APAC nations, is designed to give advisers and small businesses a high-level overview of where customers are with their buying habits, as well as their expectations for economic growth.
“Our latest Global Insights Report has shown that credit card fraud (33%) and identity theft (32%) are among the top concerns for consumers around conducting online activities,” said Mat Demetriou (pictured), Experian’s general manager of decision analytics in Australia and New Zealand.
“Thirty-three per cent (33%) of APAC businesses are looking to invest in digital decisioning capabilities, AI, fraud detection software and advanced analytics to better understand and protect their consumers.
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“As technology develops and becomes increasingly clever, so too do fraudsters, leaving businesses and consumers vulnerable to fraud and security breaches.
“By May last year, just months into the pandemic, three in five fraud professionals said the rate of fraudulent activity had risen, and nearly all expected it to get worse.
“We’ve seen that prediction come to fruition, with Experian’s FraudShare technology rolling out in New Zealand helping to prevent the loss of $600k as a result of fraudulent activity in October alone.
“This is just the beginning in delivering an enhanced consumer and business experience in New Zealand.
“Consumers can take basic self-protection steps against fraud including ignoring and deleting emails from unknown senders, using long passwords with caps, numbers and characters, regularly updating software and regularly changing passwords.
“There are also more sophisticated methods consumers can employ, such as using encrypted browsers or VPNs.
“Having said that, businesses have a duty of care when it comes to protecting consumer data. Ensuring customers are who they say are is critical. Businesses can implement a layered and continuous identity proofing strategy as the foundation.
“In practice, this requires businesses to think holistically, using insights at every interaction to build accurate customer profiles, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to implement multiple security check and identity recognition methods.
“This will help to continually protect consumers and enhance their security, all while improving their experience at all stages of the customer lifecycle.”
