Fraud is no longer confined by borders. It has evolved into an international issue, with perpetrators often operating from different countries than their victims. Developed nations such as the US, UK and the rest of Western-Europe remain prime targets. Particularly in the UK, the combination of a large population and English-speaking residents makes it a lucrative hunting ground for fraudsters. Despite the advancements in fraud prevention tools, reported fraud continues to rise year after year, exposing significant vulnerabilities in the global financial ecosystem. Financial institutions have invested heavily in fraud detection and authentication measures, yielding some success. Account Takeover Fraud has decreased thanks to multi-factor authentication (MFA), risk-based authentication and customer education campaigns that teach users to avoid sharing sensitive information. Authorized Push Payment (APP) Fraud , like invoice scams, is being reduced through initiatives such as "Ver...
Already 2 years ago, I explored in my blog " The UPI Phenomenon: From Zero to 10 Billion " ( https://bankloch.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-upi-phenomenon-from-zero-to-10.html ) how India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) reshaped the digital payments landscape. UPI has grown into one of the world’s largest digital payment systems, processing over 18 billion transactions monthly and accounting for more than 83% of India’s digital transaction volume. Its success is unprecedented, driven largely by a unique feature: zero cost . Merchants don’t pay to accept payments, and users don’t pay to send or receive money. This absence of fees has removed all barriers for users and merchants for joining the system. But this model requires also heavy subsidizing by the Indian government and as UPI further grows and expands internationally (UPI is already live in countries like the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France and Mauritius), cracks are beginning to show. It...