US Consumers Want Alerts by Cell Phone re: Fraudulent Transactions

Conducted in New York City in September 2009 by Adeptra, a specialist in fraud prevention, the survey of 200 consumers was to provide a snapshot of consumers' preferences and attitudes to card fraud prevention tactics.

When asked how they would like issuers to contact them to flag a potential fraudulent transaction and check its legitimacy, the majority of consumers said they would prefer to be contacted by a call to their cell phone with more than half (54%) saying this was their preferred channel of contact. A fifth of respondents (20%) said they would prefer to be contacted by a call to their landline telephone, and a fifth (20%) opted for email notification. Six percent said they would prefer contact by cell phone text/SMS.

Adeptra is a global leader in Auto-resolution technology, including fraud prevention solutions that automatically notify potential victims of fraud in real-time through the use of virtual agent technology. These solutions help card issuers and banks cut credit card fraud by up to 50%.

Although identity theft per se continues to be perceived as a major public concern in North America, research shows that credit card fraud has decreased as a percentage of all ID theft for six years in a row, indicating that banks and card issuers are improving and reacting in real-time to prevent fraud losses and customer inconvenience. Despite this step-up in activity, one in four people surveyed (23%) had been a victim of credit card fraud.

Consumers' awareness of their own finances varied. More than one in ten of respondents (11%) checked their credit card and bank statements daily, the majority (53%) checking statements on a weekly basis, a third (33%) on a monthly basis, while three percent admitted they never checked their statements. Consumers who have been a victim of fraud are more likely than average to check their statements regularly: 15% check daily, 57% weekly and 28% monthly.

Ed Broyles, North America regional managing director for Adeptra, said, "It was interesting for us, as a company that handles a significant proportion of North American consumer fraud notifications -- whether by landline calls, cell phone calls, emails or SMS texts -- that a small but increasing percentage of consumers wanted to be contacted by SMS. A number of our banking and credit card clients are seeing an increased demand for SMS as a fraud prevention channel as the text messaging generation becomes a larger proportion of their customer base."

Lou Venezia, CEO of Adeptra, said, "As an industry player that works closely with issuers on fraud prevention tactics and channels of communication, we see first-hand the initiatives and strategies being put in place from faster response time, to understanding consumer preferences. Speed, transparency, and the right communication channel mix for individuals, each go hand-in-hand to prevent fraud."

He concluded, "Today's credit card fraudsters are armed with the combination of no scruples, an eye for opportunity, and cutting edge technologies. It's a never-ending race but issuers are embracing technologies and services which help them stay one step ahead to protect their brand reputation and, most importantly, let consumers know when there might be fraud so they can stop a small problem from turning into a larger one."