Accenture takes fight to fraud

“Rather than the current siloed approach, we believe that collaboration is vital. Venturing outside the organisation and partnering with others to not only share data and best practices, but pool resources is key in becoming more effective in the fight against fraud,” said Accenture’s Agarwal.

According to the exec, fraud has a severe impact on business and society. “It’s a cost-effective crime, with low risks and high rewards. It’s often executed outside jurisdictions of crime, so it’s therefore hard to police.”

However, a significant challenge in preventing fraud losses is maintaining a seamless user experience. “If the barriers to use are too inhibitive or inconvenient, customers may switch to another service. Providers should analyse where the fraud may happen and adjust the fraud detection and prevention systems accordingly.”

As technology is evolving everything else in our lives, the fraudsters are evolving with it, thus finding new opportunities to exploit, claims Agarwal. “Digital banking, connected devices and the use of digital payments is also increased dramatically and evolving the risk landscape. Where we used to deal with stolen devices or credit card swiping, we now deal with phishing, smishing, hacking and more. Spoofing, call-back schemes and SMS phishing are growing concerns for telcos also.”

To protect the future of finance, the Accenture exec recommends technologies that ensure data sharing and transparency between all departments, helping to foster a more collaborative environment. “Educating the workforce and customers will also help reduce risk.”