29% of consumers don’t trust retailers to keep financial data safe

Consumers don’t trust retailers to keep personal and financial data safe from hackers or data breaches as almost a third admitted to being worried once stores have the information.

The data, which is part of an ACI Worldwide global fraud study, shows that 29 per cent of consumers don’t trust retailers to protect data and just 55 per cent think that stores use security systems that adequately protect financial data.

“Consumer distrust is exacerbated by the widely publicised retail data breaches over the past year,” explained Mike Braatz, senior vice president, Payments Risk Management Solutions, ACI Worldwide.

Financial institutions, on the other hand, are held in a higher regard with 58 per cent of consumers rating them higher than retailers, government agencies and law enforcement when it comes to protecting data.

Customers also want to know when their accounts have been compromised with 77 per cent “very interested” about being contacted via phone call, email or text when there has been suspicious activity on their card or account. After a fraud has been identified, 73 per cent prefer that their banks don’t post transactions to their cards until a response to the fraud alert has been made.

“Consumers want to engage in the battle against fraud. Financial institutions must take a proactive role in not only engaging customers in fraud-alerting activities, but educating them on preventative measures to take to most effectively combat it,” commented Shirley Inscoe, senior analyst, Aite Group.

32 per cent of consumers think that computer hackers are the greatest fraud threat and worryingly only 42 per cent can recall receiving any anti-fraud information from their bank.

ACI Research’s figures are part of its “Global Consumers: Concerned and Willing to Engage in the Battle Against Fraud” study that spoke to over 6,100 consumers in 20 countries.

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