While online and contactless payments are set to increase by 20% by 2021, UFC-Que Choisir reveals that savers are being reimbursed less and less in the event of fraud. Indeed, 30% of fraud victims were not compensated by their bank this year, compared with 26% the previous year.
Bank card fraud on the rise
Bankcard fraud, a method of debiting consumers' accounts by hijacking their means of payment, mainly concerns online and contactless payments. According to UFC-Que Choisir, based on the 4th annual report of the Observatoire de la sécurité des moyens de paiement (Payment Security Observatory) published by the Banque de France, the number of online and contactless payments could rise by 20% as early as 2021, with a proportional increase in cases of bankcard fraud.
The increased use of these dematerialized means of payment is not without danger. Contactless payment and remote payment are respectively 2 and 17 times more frequently defrauded than transactions involving the dialing of a secret code.
Banks try to escape their repayment obligations
The survey carried out by the association highlights the banks' attempts to evade their obligation to reimburse victims in the event of fraud. To justify their actions, banks invoke reasons based mainly on accusations of negligence. However, in most cases, this reason is not valid, as since September 14, 2019, the use of single-use SMS codes as a means of authentication on the Internet is no longer considered sufficiently secure. According to UFC-Que Choisir, only 46% of consumers are equipped with a " strong authentication device ". The report highlights the fact that banks are lagging behind when it comes to securing remote transactions, and points out that savers should not have to pay for the technological backwardness of these players.
Use of a password or fingerprint recognition system
Savers should be able to use a reinforced authentication device when favoring remote payment methods. Transactions should be validated using at least two of the following three factors: something they know, such as a password or PIN, something they hold(a bank card) and/or something that uniquely identifies them(a fingerprint).
In response to the accusations made by the consumer association, the French Banking Federation (FBF) explains that once the fraud has been revealed by the customer, "each bank organizes itself to assess the situation, depending on the circumstances and the type of fraud, and to ensure that it is dealt with ". For its part, UFC-Que Choisir encourages victims to report any fraud that has not been compensated, and calls on public authorities to establish a legal framework to punish banks' delaying tactics.