What has the most devastating impact on victims of fraud? A poll on the website of CIFAS – a UK fraud prevention service has – suggested that it is the time taken to sort out the mess caused by becoming a victim of fraud.
When asked ‘What is the worst side effect for victims of fraud?’ respondents were given a choice of three responses – based upon the three most common themes raised by victims of fraud who answered a previous CIFAS online survey.
Percentage of respondents
Time lost trying to clear up the mess: 41.79 per cent
Trust in people/institutions damaged: 30.85pc
Financial impact and loss: 27.36pc.
CIFAS Communications Manager, Richard Hurley, says: “For victims of fraud, the financial loss is obviously a very real one. Lenders and suppliers, however, are in most cases under an obligation to refund any losses or debts taken out in an innocent party’s name. This means that such losses are actually temporary. What is interesting is that respondents to this poll have overwhelmingly emphasised this by confirming that the real trauma is the impact upon the fraud victims’ time, as they try to untangle themselves from the mess caused by a fraudster.”
While most victims of fraud feel that the process of repairing the damage caused by fraud could be quicker, it is clear that the damage caused to the victim’s ability to trust organisations and individuals is also considerable. For the majority of victims, how fraudsters obtained the details required to impersonate them or to hijack an existing account remains unknown. With over 121,500 individual cases of impersonation or account take-over recorded in 2011, the scale of the problem cannot be over-estimated.
Richard Hurley says: “We all have a part to play in keeping our details secure, but these results demonstrate that organisations must always bear their customers in mind. Customers want to know that their data is safe, and they want to be able to trust the organisations with whom they hold accounts. While the damage to trust, caused by fraud, cannot be quantified in financial terms, this should serve as a stark reminder to all organisations that people expect them to provide secure services and protect their data at all times.”
While some legal protection is in place for victims of fraud, these findings demonstrate how much more needs to be done to aid those who have fallen victim to financial crime. Richard Hurley concludes: “While there are avenues open and available for fraud victims, the distress and impact caused by fraud is evidently more than just financial. Organisations, therefore, should view these results as a call for stronger, more unified and speedy action to help victims to clean up the mess caused by fraud. Sadly, the sour taste left by the current approaches that some public and private bodies take when dealing with their customers who have been victims of fraud only leads to greater hostility. Whether by looking after customer data more carefully than they have in the past, or by remembering to take corrective action more quickly, helping victims of fraud is something that all organisations would do well to become far better at doing.”
Notes
CIFAS is a UK fraud prevention service with 260 member organisations spread across banking, credit cards, asset finance, retail credit, mail order, insurance, investment management, telecommunications, factoring and share dealing and the public sector. Members share information on identified frauds in the fight to prevent further fraud. CIFAS-style data sharing schemes modelled on CIFAS have been set up in Southern Africa and Germany. Over 400 individual visitors to the CIFAS website answered the online poll; and the ‘Are you a victim of fraud?’survey is available on the CIFAS website.
