Scam fears causing one in three UK consumers to abandon online purchases – study

Shoppers said two-factor authentication and security questions were the measures that gave them the greatest confidence when interacting with companies (PA) PA Wire Josie Clarke 3 minutes ago Fears of being scammed are causing one in three UK consumers to abandon online purchases, according to a study.

Some 31% of consumers have stopped at least one online purchase because they were concerned that a website was not genuine, the Institute of Customer Service found.

The figures showed the scale of the challenge as scams become more sophisticated, the organisation said.

Almost a third of customers (30%) believe companies should pay compensation to those scammed by a third party pretending to represent the firm.

More than half of UK consumers (58%) said they had been contacted by a scammer pretending to be from a real company in the past year, compared with 34% who said they had not.

Fake text messages were the most common scam, received by 53% of consumers contacted by a fraudster, followed by phone calls from someone pretending to represent a company they use (49%).

The survey found that 32% of consumers believe scams have become harder to spot over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, 84% of consumers said they feel safer using brands they trust.

Shoppers said two-factor authentication and security questions were the measures that gave them the greatest confidence when interacting with companies.

Institute of Customer Service chief executive Jo Causon said: “The level of sophistication on the scammers’ side is now a real problem, both for consumers and for the organisations trying to deliver a genuine customer experience.

“More and more trusted brands are being targeted, and cyber breaches mean there is more personal data in circulation than ever before.”

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She added: “Scams, and the fear of scams, are now prevalent enough in the public consciousness to be having a genuine impact on business.