Payments Fraud Hurts All of Us

This AFP survey (click to download pdf of report) makes clear a trend many have expected, that fraud would grow as the economy continues to suffer.  And, no surprise, but larger organizations are a bigger target due to their higher transaction volumes.   I see and hear it anecdotally every day in conversations with partners, customers and prospects who are fighting ecommerce payments fraud.

Although large organizations are cited by the AFP survey as the major victims, let's not ignore a fact that this story glosses over, namely the impact of fraud on small organizations.  Their losses may be smaller but the hurt can be that much greater. The “modest $15,200” isn’t so modest for the little guy. We're all hurt by payments fraud.

Payments fraud isn't just a cost of doing business, and we aren't defenseless. Banks, issuers, merchants all share in the pain, but those costs ultimately get passed on to consumers as a hidden tax on everything they buy. We owe it to the consumers to stop wasting their money (and ours too). There is a simple solution -- by joining together, it's possible to see fraud literally as-it-happens, and use the intel gained to isolate and identify perpetrators. We can also address the oft-unspoken other side of the coin -- denial of service to good customers and lost sales due to inability to distinguish good orders from bad.

Story after story details how payments fraud is growing because criminals are more determined, work 24x7 with single-minded purpose, and most importantly, they share information on whom to hit and how. It's time we turned the tables, and started working together to stop the pain.