According to FICO report, more and more Mexican consumers are of the opinion that RTPs are comparably secure with credit cards, but they still expect more automated fraud detection from their bank.
Global analytics software company FICO has released the results of its 2024 Scam Impact Survey, Mexico chapter.
The resulting report confirms that the majority of consumers in the country already use real-time payments (RTP): 82% have sent them and 81% have received them; in fact, 41% do it between 2 and 5 times a month, and 20%, 6 to 10 times a month (similar to what it was last year) and almost half of Mexicans (45%) plan to increase their use next year.
For the participants, the perception of the security of RTPs, such as Digital Collection (CoDi) and SPEI, is changing: there are more (77%) who believe that there are enough security controls for RTPs (the world average on this particular issue is 73%), but in this edition of the survey the percentage of respondents who consider that this type of payment is more secure than a credit card fell by 9%.
Nearly a quarter of respondents nationwide (23%) said they used RTP to pay for goods, services or investments they never received, and 27% reported monetary losses to their banks. The global average is very similar: 28%.
The risks around RTPs will continue to increase as these services continue to be adopted. Among the main conclusions of the report in Mexico in this regard are:
- 14% of respondents agreed to have sent a payment after their bank sent a scam warning.
- The percentage of those who consider RTP to be more secure than credit cards dropped from 72% to 63% but remains above the global average (51%).
- For 28% of respondents nationwide, the security of RTPs is comparable to that of credit cards; in 2023, it was 21%.
- Only 3% of Mexican consumers believe that making payments in real time is less secure than using credit cards.
- 33% would like more education from their bank on how to avoid scams.
Based on global and national consumer trends, FICO believes banks in Mexico should expect the use of RTP to continue to grow and diversify, as more transactions are made between consumers, companies and public sector entities.
At the same time, there is an ongoing need for education about the risks and scams related to irrevocable payments, which presents an opportunity for banks; By communicating risks and warnings clearly and leveraging automation, they can deliver robust experiences to their customers and make it easier for them to defend against threats.
The balance between customer satisfaction and the fight against fraud
According to the study, the level of customer satisfaction with their bank’s fraud resolution process is lower than the global average (39% versus 50%), while Mexican customers’ experience expectations remain high. As the volume of scams increases, fraud management teams will have more challenges to maintain or improve customer satisfaction while ensuring operational efficiency in case handling and resolution.
Consumers in this country are looking for more automated fraud detection and, as can be seen in the bullet points above, most would approve of their bank’s proactivity in stopping a payment associated with a scam.
Regarding the opinion of Mexican consumers regarding their bank’s response to a scam incident, it is worth noting that most act when they are not satisfied: 46% said in the survey that they would complain directly to the bank, and 28% would take the case to regulators. It is a fact that, whether the bank must address a high number of complaints or face regulatory scrutiny, these challenging outcomes can be reduced or even avoided with a more automated fraud resolution process.
Undoubtedly, the best way to avoid risks, loss of reputation and comings and goings of responsibilities in the subject of scams is to prevent them from happening. A bank’s approach to automating its defense against scams is crucial: it must include sophisticated techniques, such as AI-based analytics and machine learning, combined with capabilities such as contextual processing, decision-making, and real-time customer interaction.
The most notable data from the FICO study related to the subject are:
- In Mexico, 43% of consumers believe that the bank should always reimburse the scam victim. The percentage is 1% lower than in fiscal 2023, but still higher than the global average of 34%.
- Almost a quarter of respondents (24%) believe that the bank should make this refund most of the time; that is, 4% less than in 2023.
- Only 4% of the total believe that banks should never be held responsible for scams.
- 15% of respondents will switch banks if they are not satisfied with the way the bank handled a scam incident.
Technology is the key
Consumers expect their bank to help them avoid falling into scams by giving them the tools, education and automated security mechanisms with which they can prevent losses (these are on the rise: 7% of scam cases in Mexico reported in 2024 exceeded $10,000 pesos in losses, compared to 5% in 2023). For them, the two most important things their bank can do to protect them from these threats are: having better fraud detection systems and providing more warnings about known or emerging scams. For this last point, banks need to know which is the preferred channel for each of their customers, in order to maintain a good experience in the process.
Real-time customer interaction, to “break the spell” of fraudsters, is pitched by FICO as a key piece of the scam prevention puzzle. The bank’s real-time, two-way interactions with its customers, on the channel of their choice, are seen as an invaluable tool to help combat scams.
Run by an independent research firm, the survey involved 1,000 Mexican adults and was part of a project that surveyed more than 12,000 consumers in 14 countries.
