UK challenger bank Tandem has opened up a new front in the fight against fraud, by starting a two-way in-app conversation with users before blocking suspicious transactions.
While other banks routinely suspend unusual transactions without notifying the customer, or insist on a call back to the fraud department, the Tandem app instead flags potentially suspicious activity via a push notification.
Tandem, CTO, Paul Clark says, “When we talked to our Co-Founders (the bank's user community) about sources of unescessary stress the way overseas fraud checks are handled came up time and time again. We want to make fraud prevention easy for people: we give users a nudge and if they confirm that it’s them conducting the activity they can continue spending hassle-free.”
Spending overseas is one of a number of potentially fraudulent activities that are now flagged by the Tandem App. Various aspects of user activity are measured to identify whether the person using the account in question is who they say they are, drawing user's attention to large payments, new merchants, or unescessary fees.
Says Clark: "While many banks employ these fraud rules, most do not offer a self resolution service, and certainly not a proactive one.”