Mumbai, November 22, 2017: Experian®, the global information services company, today launched their Asia Pacific Fraud Insights Report – 2017. The report in its second edition analyses fraud trends across 10 countries in Asia Pacific and delivers insights from both the corporates as well as consumers. The findings are based on two primary research studies conducted by Experian, in collaboration with IDC between May and June 2017.
The report emphasizes on the prevalence of identity theft and other fraud trends existing in India in relation to sectors such as financial services (including insurance), retail and telecommunications.
Key Highlights
- Consumers have maximum shopping apps per person in the India – an average of 3 per person
- 48% of consumers in India have directly or indirectly experienced retail fraud
- India stands amongst the top four countries in the region with highest digital adoption
- Levels of trust in Telco for Indian consumers is lowest across the three sectors
- Indian retail merchants experience high fraud rates of as much as 5% of total Gross Merchandise Value
- Incorrect employment information and false income documents are two of the most frequent frauds committed in India (40% combined)
According to Fraud Insights Report – 2017, India stands amongst the top four countries in the Asia Pacific region with highest digital adoption, digital banking account sign-up and utilization. Indian consumers also show high satisfaction to companies’ efforts in handing fraud. However, India remains the only country in the top four with high fraud incidents. This indicates to a possible gap between perception i.e. the lack of awareness and understanding of consumer about methods in which frauds occur online and truth i.e. the actual occurrences of fraud itself.
Commenting on this report, Vaishali Kasture, Managing Director Experian Credit Bureau and Country Head, Experian India said, “These insights provide the truth vs. perception of a companies’ ability to manage trust and the impact on their business today and in the future. With this knowledge, companies can better understand, engage and empower customers themselves wherever possible as their behaviours are often a source of personal data breach that can be used by fraudsters. Experian is committed in supporting businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organizations to prevent identity fraud and crime”.
Despite a high frequency of fraud incidents, consumers in India are generally more tolerant and willing to accept the occasional fraud involving minor monetary losses if given assurance of non-recurrence by the companies. Out of the three surveyed sectors, Indian retail merchants experience high fraud rates of as much as 5% of total Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). The various methods devised by fraudsters leading to such losses are: 19% return frauds, 11.6% clean fraud and 11.1% card not present fraud cases.
The report is a part of Experian’s recurring Intellectual Property to provide the foundation for a data-enhanced identity management system that seeks to prevent and protect individuals from fraud today and tomorrow.