Are you familiar with Transaction Reversal Fraud (TRF)? If you are, I’m sure you’ll be aware of the considerable impact it has on the industry. With thousands of incidents reported annually, TRF has a potential industry cost of millions of pounds per year - significantly impacting bottom lines.

TRF is one method used to physically manipulate an ATM, allowing criminals to fraudulently take money from the system without being detected.

A report from EAST shows a 147% increase in TRF, which not only results in significant cash losses but also causes interruptions to services - impacting profitability, customer experience and brand reputation.

Unfortunately fraud attacks, such as TRF, are omnipresent in the world today. As technology advances, fraudsters have broadened their methods of attack - impacting consumers and organisations alike. Staying one step ahead of the fraudsters can be an ongoing challenge, particularly with the current pace of change within the financial services industry.

With this in mind, a clear focus on appropriate security measures is becoming increasingly high on the agenda for organisations across the globe.  But this is an ongoing battle – multiple platforms and new service offerings can lead to the potential for increased vulnerabilities. Achieving the balance between offering customers new, agile services, and ensuring they are watertight from a security perspective, can often be a difficult one. Security should always be at the forefront of any innovation – ultimately, customers won’t want to engage in new services if they feel they are at risk.

As customer service continues to drive the agenda for many financial service strategies, any negative brand association as a result of fraud or security breaches can be detrimental to success in an increasingly competitive market. With fraud permeating all aspects of financial services, a multi-layered security approach should be integrated into each and every strategic and operational plan. After all, a brand reputation that has taken years to build, can be destroyed in minutes as a result of fraud.