The increased online activity, especially because of e-commerce, may also mean an increase in online fraud. The latest survey from Vesta, the end-to-end transaction guarantee platform for online purchases, saw that 1 in 3 respondents from Southeast Asia experienced online fraud in the past 12 months, with 71% experienced identity and 66% fell for phishing activities.

The Vesta Online Payment Sentiments survey gathered responses from more than 4,300 respondents across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

“In burgeoning e-commerce and m-commerce markets like Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, merchants and customers are increasingly vulnerable to false declines, fraud, and poor payment experiences,” said Shabab Muhaddes, GM for Asia Pacific, Vesta. “Our survey has revealed that safety and security remains a top concern among online shoppers and there is an unspoken expectation of merchants to put in place the right solutions. Overall, the results of this survey indicate an obvious and urgent need for sophisticated solutions that offer better protection against fraud, drive higher approvals while enabling a seamless consumer payment experience.”

Suspected digital fraud from PH drops by 59.4% in Q2 2021
Increase in online transaction means more digital fraud activity ​— TransUnion

The report noted that account sharing within family members (57% in Indonesia), puts them at higher risk of fraud methods, such as account takeover. However, online shoppers in the Philippines (68%) and Singapore (81%) do not share account credentials with family members or relatives.

Verification

However, 33% of the respondents consider multiple verification and authentication, which is one of the basic tools to secure an account, as a top payment problem.

“There is a need to work closely with merchants to strengthen its fraud identification capability to improve overall customer journey and trust, as well as the merchants’ reputation,” said James Melon, country director, Philippines, Vesta.

Vesta advises organizations to implement a robust, end-to-end fraud protection solution because it is the most cost-efficient way to prevent fraud.

Fighting fraud is complex and expensive, that is why it is so crucial for e-commerce merchants to employ sophisticated solutions backed by machine learning to offer protection against fraudulent cases, and a transaction guarantee platform for a smooth payment experience for online shoppers.