8 out of 10 Spanish Consumers Have Received Scam Attempts

Global analytics software leader FICO has just released the results of its survey on real-time payments (RTP) that shows that 80% of consumers in Spain have received a text, email, or phone call they thought was part of a scam, 4% more than just a year ago.

More information: https://www.fico.com/es/latest-thinking/ebook/2024-scams-impact-survey-spain-spanish

According to FICO’s research, scams related to RTP are on the rise in Spain, as are both the amount and frequency of losses. More Spanish consumers reported losses in 2024 than in 2023, and the number of high-value losses (exceeding €5,000) also increased. Though most losses were relatively small (67% of victims lost €500 or less), 7% of victims were scammed for more than €5,000, up from 4% in 2023.

However, Spanish consumers’ above-average willingness to heed scam warnings and not send payments after being warned is good news for both consumers and banks. Actually, 23% of consumers reported a loss to their bank, 4% more than in 2023 and 74% of Spaniards are very (46%) or somewhat (28%) satisfied with their bank’s scam resolution process.

Furthermore, just 7% of consumers sent payments after their bank warned of scam, half of the global average.

“Real-time payments have become much more commonplace in Spain,” said Miguel Carrilho, senior consultant at FICO in EMEA. “Our research shows that 93% of consumers have sent RTP and 90% have received RTP. In fact, 40% of Spanish consumers consider RTP more secure than a credit card, yet an increasing number of individuals are reporting scam losses to their banks.”

Consumers and Banks Share Responsibility When Scams Occur

Though 44% of consumers in Spain say they are responsible should they fall for a scam, this is less than the 53% global average. Spaniards also feel that some blame is to be shared with banks; 19% feel the receiving bank is responsible, while 20% feel the same about the originating bank.

In 2024, 73% of consumers in Spain said banks should refund scam victims always (43%) or most of the time (30%), equal to what our survey found in 2023.

“The best way to avoid the risk, liability, and loss of reputation that scams can create is to prevent them from happening in the first place,” said Carrilho. “Banks play a crucial role in identifying and intervening in scam transactions. By providing scam detection and immediate communication through each customer’s preferred channel, banks can deliver the scam defences that customers want and expect to see.”

Spanish consumers have a variety of channel preferences for scam notifications. 41% now prefer to use their bank’s app, an 11% increase over 2023 and 8% more than the global average. At the same time, 28% continue to prefer phone calls while 18% prefer text messaging.

“The bottom line for banks in Spain is that there is not a single channel that will accommodate all consumers,” Carrilho said. “Banks must be prepared to reach out through any communication channel, in real-time, and with two-way capabilities. Proactive, two-way communications capabilities integrated with scam prevention workflows can immediately notify customers when banks detect a scam in progress. This real-time engagement is proven to reduce the likelihood of a customer following through with payment to a scammer.”

Not protecting clients from scam may result in high churn rates

When consumers are unhappy with their bank’s response to a scam incident, most will take actions that cost the bank time, money, and potentially the customer relationship itself. The big risk to banks is that 16% of consumers in Spain said they will change banks if they’re unhappy with how a scam incident is managed.

Above all, Spanish consumers want their banks to deploy better fraud detection systems: 63% of consumers ranked this as the top or second most impactful action their bank could take. Another 38% of consumers ranked providing more warnings about known or emerging scams as the top or second-most impactful action their banks could take to protect them.

“By incorporating scam-specific analysis, scoring, and customer outreach for individual transactions, banks can provide proactive warnings along with automated actions to alert and inform customers,” Carrilho said. “Notifying a consumer in the heat of the moment that their transaction may be associated with a scam can help to break the scammers’ spell.”

For more information, see the full report on the scam survey in Spain.

Methodology

The data referenced here derives from two surveys FICO conducted in 2023 and 2024. Each survey asked more than 12,000 consumers across 14 countries their opinions and experiences regarding RTP usage, scams, and their banks’ scam management capabilities. When year-over-year comparisons are made, they are referring to a comparison of these two surveys that asked the same question in each year the survey was conducted.

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 80 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO^® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.

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