Merchants are not security savvy

More than a third (38.5 percent) of merchants don’t even know what type of risks new technologies such as mCommerce bring. They most likely wouldn’t recognize a fraud threat even if they were right in the middle of it.

Those are the conclusions written in the new 2016 Mobile Payments & Fraud Survey, released by Kount. The figures are quite a surprise, knowing that mobile fraud increased by 81 percent between 2011 and 2015.

"Despite awareness that the mobile channel poses a greater risk than standard eCommerce, businesses are taking a blanketed approach to their security strategies", said Don Bush, vice president of marketing at Kount. "Security is an essential part of the consumer experience. And, as we saw with the rampant spread of data breaches, if organizations don’t have a tailored strategy to manage fraud as it evolves, they, and their customers, will be paying for it for years to come".

Instead of focusing on security, companies both small and large focus mostly on customer convenience, risking a lot. In the press release following the announcement, it says that "they’re relying on traditional eCommerce protection tools to manage risk in the mobile channel, even when nearly half (41 percent) acknowledge that mCommerce is riskier".

The report also unveils interesting figures regarding mobile wallets. Card associations and issuers are most likely to support them, in 85 percent and 75 percent of cases, respectively. Many made it possible for their cards to be used across various wallets, but only a third of merchants supports them.

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