Report: Transaction Delays from Anti-Fraud Efforts Can Run
Off Consumers
Jan. 30, 2012
New research from American Express-owned e-commerce
anti-fraud technology provider Accertify found that 63 percent of “connected”
U.S. adults (consumers with access to both a smartphone and a Web-enabled
computer) believe more fraud occurs when conducting transactions online than in
person. However, the report said, consumers who encounter a bad experience with
a fraud prevention program will change their shopping behavior. “It
is clear that narrow fraud programs can actually push legitimate customers
away,” said Jeff Liesendahl, senior vice president of Accertify at American
Express. “Merchants with inflexible fraud prevention technology or who manually
review every suspect transaction end up delaying and denying legitimate
transactions. Therefore, it is critical for merchants to have a fraud
prevention solution that automates and prioritizes transaction screening and is
fully customized to each merchant. By pairing unique flagging criteria with an
upfront screening process, merchants can effectively identify and protect
against emerging fraud schemes while ensuring legitimate customers are not
inconvenienced.” More than a quarter of consumers (28 percent) have encountered
a fraud protection system that unnecessarily delayed or denied their
transaction, the survey found. Among consumers who have experienced transaction
delay or denial, 35 percent said they would penalize the business responsible
for an improperly delayed or denied transaction by moving or considering moving
their business to a competitor, and 11 percent of consumers simply switched to
a competitor immediately.