According to research recently conducted by BAI, a nonprofit independent organization that delivers the financial services industry’s most actionable insights, nearly all of the financial services leaders polled indicate their organizations were very prepared or – somewhat prepared– for an increase in fraudulent activity stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The most common proactive changes cited by respondents included enhanced customer communications, additional employee training and revised employee policies and procedures.
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“Consumers are eager to know that financial services organizations are taking the necessary precautions to safeguard against fraudulent activity”
As part of the BAI Banking Outlook program, BAI surveyed financial services leaders to get a pulse of their recent dealings with fraudulent activity. Most of the respondents indicated that they have seen or expect to see at least a minor increase in fraudulent activity as a result of COVID-19. When asked about the types of fraud emerging since early March, almost half of the respondents indicated they are most often dealing with instances of third-party fraud followed by a combination of first and third-party fraud.
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The most frequently cited third-party fraud has been in the form of stimulus check or economic relief scams. Other commonly reported types of third-party fraud include electronic banking fraud, phishing and supply scams. The most common instances of first-party fraud have been check and debit card fraud.
“Consumers are eager to know that financial services organizations are taking the necessary precautions to safeguard against fraudulent activity,” said Karl Dahlgren, managing director at BAI. “Our BAI Banking Outlook research over the past year has found nearly 60% of financial services customers would feel more secure if financial services organizations used fingerprints, retina scans, and/or speech patterns to identify them. This underscores the importance of security for consumers, and financial services leaders are responding to these expectations during the pandemic and beyond.”
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