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

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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.”

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

“Left unaddressed, this could fundamentally undermine trust in organisations and reduce customers’ willingness to buy, or share information to help with personalisation, limiting the ability of UK businesses to engage and grow.”

However, the survey revealed a “complex balance” between security and ease of use, with 35% of consumers saying they would be willing to sacrifice ease of dealing with companies for increased security while 32% would accept a reduction in security to keep a frictionless customer experience.

A further 32% were not prepared to sacrifice any security, while still expecting companies to be easy to deal with.

Ms Causon said: “Most of us are juggling busy lives and we want ease and efficiency, but the days of a completely frictionless buying experience are over.

“My advice to organisations is not to sacrifice protection for speed: make any necessary security measures as simple as possible, communicate clearly, educate customers and lean in to support them when something does go wrong.

“Brands that face into this will restore confidence and build trust, and customers need that to feel safe spending their hard-earned cash, sharing their data and recommending others.

“As consumers, we have a responsibility too, and that starts with the basics: don’t reuse passwords, make use of passkeys and two-factor authentication, and call businesses back on a number you know to be genuine.”