New report highlights growing acceptance and rising frustration with financial fraud: 96% of consumers are concerned about fraud, but over a third accept that it is inevitable.
Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, released the findings of a survey of over 4,000 UK and US consumers, looking at their attitudes to, and experiences of, financial fraud. 96% of UK respondents surveyed reported having concerns about fraud, but more than two fifths (42%) said they accept fraud as a cost of living in an increasingly digital economy. A further 35% reported that they accept being a victim of fraudulent transactions is ‘inevitable’, but 71% believe the risk of fraud is not a ‘fair trade-off’ for the convenience of a more seamless digital economy.
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Marqeta’s survey showed that fraud is becoming an increasingly common fact of life for UK consumers; 38% reported having been the victim of financial fraud, with 1-in-5 falling victim in the last 12 months. The survey also showed that people are split in terms of who is responsible for preventing fraud; 57% of UK respondents think it’s their own responsibility to protect themselves from fraud, while 43% think the responsibility falls on the banks. Despite this, the data suggests UK citizens could be doing more:
- Over half of consumers (52%) admit they could be better at protecting personal financial information.
- Only 34% check online to see if their card details have been exposed following a major data breach – considerably lower than the 60% of US respondents that do the same.
- 76% believe shopping online puts them at a higher risk of fraud, with 50% regularly worrying about entering card information online – but 85% still made a purchase online in the last month (a figure that is likely to be even higher presently, with citizens in enforced lockdowns).
- 14% regularly lose their card (at least every year) with 1 in 20 admitting to losing their card every few months. While 85% always cancel their card when this happens, only 23% do so immediately – despite the fact that 82% of those that have been defrauded said it happened within an hour of them losing their card.
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“We are living in very unusual times, with most of the country under state-imposed lockdown to some degree. Against this backdrop, fraudsters are unfortunately thriving, and we have seen numerous warnings and scams being conducted by people who want to take advantage of the situation. So people need to be on guard even more than ever,” comments Ian Johnson, European Managing Director for Marqeta. “Yet this research shows that, while many people are taking steps to protect themselves, there is still a significant portion that is not. This may be because they have become resigned to the inevitability of fraud, but it may also be because they are often insulated from the consequences – as the survey also showed that 92% of people who had been defrauded had been able to get fraudulent transactions removed from their account. This means the banks are often carrying the financial burden of fraud.”
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