46% of businesses in India saw rise in fraud amid pandemic: Report

Mumbai: More than 45 per cent of businesses in India have seen an increase in fraud amid the pandemic, said a report on Friday.

According to data analytics company Experian, despite the growing risk of fraud, 40 per cent of Indian businesses indicate that they are placing more emphasis on revenue generation rather than fraud detection, which can lead to an increase in losses and a decline in customer confidence.

Considering that 56 per cent of consumers in India cite online privacy as a significant concern, businesses must take robust actions to safeguard themselves and their customers against potential digital risks, it said.

“India has now become one of the largest and fastest-growing technology markets in this world,” Steve Griffiths, Managing Director, Decision Analytics, Experian Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

“Businesses need to build a digital infrastructure that is agile and adaptive to these changing dynamics,” Griffiths added.

While 90 per cent of businesses in India say they have implemented strategies related to recognising their customers across their various platforms — the highest among all regions surveyed in the global report, only 18 per cent of organisations surveyed in India are confident in preventing new types of fraud.

To counter the rising threat of fraud, Experian has upgraded and enhanced one of its flagship products, CrossCore.

The enhanced version of CrossCore cuts complexity, increases efficiency and helps businesses to quickly respond to today’s emerging fraud threats, the company said.

“Experian’s enhanced CrossCore presents an opportunity for businesses to put consumers at the heart of the relationship,” said Neeraj Dhawan, Managing Director, Experian India.

“With the latest version of CrossCore, Experian empowers businesses by consolidating numerous fraud risk signals into a single, holistic assessment, enabling them to improve operational processes, stay ahead of fraudsters, and protect their customers,” Dhawan added.