What to Expect When You’re Expecting Fraud

by Guest Contributor 2 min read July 11, 2019

You can do everything you can to prepare for the unexpected. But similar to how any first-time parent feels… you might need some help. Call in the grandparents!

Experian has extensive expertise and has been around for a long time in the industry, but unlike your traditional grandparents, Experian continuously innovates, researches trends, and validates best practices in fraud and identity verification. That’s why we explored two prominent fraud reports, Javelin’s 2019 Identity Fraud Study: Fraudsters Seek New Targets and Victims Bear the Brunt and Experian’s 2019 Global Identity and Fraud Report — Consumer trust: Building meaningful relationships online, to help you identify and respond to new trends surrounding fraud.

What we found – and what you need to know – is there are trends, technology and tactics that can help and hinder your fraud-prevention efforts.

Consider the many digital channels available today. A full 91 percent of consumers transacted online in 2018. This presents a great opportunity for businesses to serve and develop relationships with customers. It also presents a great opportunity for fraudsters as well – as almost half of consumers have experienced a fraudulent online event. Since the threat of fraud is not impacting customers’ willingness to transact online, businesses are held responsible for adapting and evolving to not only protect their customers, but to secure their bottom line. This becomes increasingly important as fraudsters continue to target and expose vulnerabilities across inexperienced lines of businesses.

Or, how about passwords. Research has shown that both businesses and consumers have greater confidence in biometrics, but neither is ready to stop using passwords. The continued reliance on traditional authentication methods is a delicate balance between security, trust and convenience. Passwords provide both authentication and consumer confidence in the online experience. It also adds friction to the user experience – and sometimes aggravation when passwords are forgotten.

Advanced methods, like physical and behavioral biometrics and device intelligence, are gaining user confidence by both businesses and consumers. But a completely frictionless authentication experience can leave consumers doubting the safeness of their transaction.

As you respond and adapt to our ever-evolving world, we encourage you to build and strengthen a trusted relationship with your customers through transparency. Consumers know that businesses are collection data about them. When a business is transparent about the use of that data, digital trust and consumer confidence soars. Through a stronger relationship, customers are more willing to accept friction and need fewer signs of security.

Learn more about these and other trends, technology and tactics that can help and hinder your authentication efforts in our new E-book, Upcoming fraud trends and how to combat them.

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For decades, credit data has given lenders a trusted foundation for assessing risk. Now, consumer-permissioned cash flow data is adding another layer of insight into consumers’ financial lives, including income, spending, liquidity and changing financial obligations. The opportunity is significant. Nearly one in five consumers lacks access to or has damaged credit. New Experian research also shows that 60% of consumers who have previously been denied credit or received less favorable terms than expected believe the outcome would have been different if lenders had considered their recent income and banking activity alongside their credit history. 1,2 For lenders, cash flow insights can provide additional context about a consumer’s financial capacity and support more informed underwriting decisions. The next challenge is making those insights easier to use consistently and responsibly at scale. What are cash flow insights? Cash flow insights are derived from consumer-permissioned banking data and provide visibility into how money moves into and out of a consumer’s accounts. Depending on the information available, cash flow data can provide insight into financial behaviors such as: Income and income stability: Regular and irregular income streams and changes over time Spending and recurring expenses: Everyday spending patterns and ongoing financial obligations Account balances and liquidity: Available funds and changes in account balances Debt obligations: Loan payments and other recurring debt commitments Cash flow patterns: How money moves into and out of accounts over time Traditional credit information provides a rich history of how consumers have managed credit. Cash flow insights add context about their current financial activity and capacity, providing lenders with a more complete view of financial health. Cash flow insights can also add predictive value to risk assessment. Experian analysis shows Cashflow Score can deliver up to a 25% lift in predictive performance over conventional credit scores when tailored to targeted risk tiers.3 How lenders can put cash flow insights to work at scale As interest in cash flow insights grows, the conversation is moving beyond what the data can reveal to how financial institutions can use it consistently and responsibly. That requires standardized consumer reporting, clear governance and decision-ready insights that can work within established lending processes. The launch of Experian Cashflow Data Bureau at Vision 2026 reflects this shift from access to adoption. The new consumer reporting agency operates under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and is designed to help financial institutions adopt consumer-permissioned cash flow insights at scale. A key part of that foundation is the cash flow consumer report, which organizes consumer-permissioned banking information into a standardized consumer report regulated under the FCRA. This gives lenders a consistent foundation for incorporating cash flow information into lending decisions while providing consumers with access to the information in their report. Turning greater visibility into better decisions The next evolution in credit isn’t about choosing between traditional credit and cash flow data. Each provides a different perspective. Traditional credit information offers deep insight into how consumers have managed credit over time. Cash flow insights can add context about financial activity and capacity. Bringing those perspectives together can give lenders greater visibility into consumers’ financial health and help them better distinguish between risk and resilience, support more informed decisions and identify opportunities to responsibly expand access to credit. As cash flow adoption continues to grow, its value will come from how effectively it complements the information lenders already use. The opportunity isn't simply to see more data. It's to turn that additional visibility into smarter, more informed decisions. Explore how Experian Cashflow Data Bureau is helping financial institutions put consumer-permissioned cash flow insights into practice at scale. Learn more [1] Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Market for Credit Building: Demand, Product Characteristics and Consumer Uses, 2026. [2] Experian commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults age 18+. Fieldwork took place July 16–21, 2026. Margin of error: +/- 2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. [3] Based on Experian analysis when Cashflow Score is compared with conventional credit scores, tailored to targeted risk tiers. Predictability based on KS.

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