E-commerce, payment fraud high priorities for customer-facing firms

New York -- E-commerce and payments fraud remains high on the agenda for consumer-facing organizations, according to a recent Deloitte online poll. Nearly half (47%) of executives and managers reported that fraud protection ranks as a "high priority" for their organization, and a further 8% cited this as their organization's number one priority.



Despite fraud prevention ranking as a high priority, only 9% of respondents stated that their organization currently provides customers with free fraud prevention solutions. Similarly, budget increases for fraud solutions have been minimal during the past 12 months, with only 9% stating that their fraud protection and detection budget increased substantially. An additional 22% reported fraud budgets had increased marginally, while a similar number (21%) stated that budgets remained unchanged.



Only 9% of respondents cited mobile fraud as a top concern for their business, even with mobile e-commerce solutions on the rise. Thirty five percent of respondents identified online as the greatest area of fraud concern, followed by e-mail (21% and non-digital fraud (13%).



"Along with the positive impact of digital commerce comes the risk of fraud to businesses and customers," explained David Williams, chief executive officer, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. "With monthly phishing attacks increasing 40% last year, education and fraud solutions for the end-customer are often a powerful way for organizations to police and control fraud."