This week is all about surveys and reports: CWT’s study on how travellers on business trips stay in touch with family and the recently released report on travel fraud statistics by e-commerce fraud prevention company, Forter.
CORPORATE TRAVEL: How APAC business travellers stay connected with family while on the road
Many business travellers still use the telephone to call home (Image credit: BrianAJackson/iStock-Getty Images)
How often do you call or text home when you’re on business trips? Every day? Or whenever you find the time? According to the CWT Connected Traveller Study business travellers from Asia Pacific (APAC) contact their family the least when compared to their counterparts from the Americas and Europe.
The survey of more than 1,900 business travellers reveals that only a third (31%) from APAC touch base with their families when on business trips. In comparison travellers from the Americas are more inclined to connect with their families with half of those surveyed indicating contact, more than from other regions. About a quarter (27%) of European respondents contact their families while away on business
Travellers from the Americas are also more likely to check-in more than once a day (47%) whether by phone, text, email or other methods, compared with travellers from Europe (37%) and APAC (32%).
On how they communicate with family and friends while travelling, European travellers (49%) are more likely to use a phone compared with 43% from the Americas and 41% from APAC.
About 20% of the American text, higher than APAC at 17% and Europe at 13%. However, regardless of location the research shows that around a quarter of travellers from each region Skype their families.
Here are some interesting findings from the survey on travellers from APAC:
China
- Business travellers from China are by far the most likely in APAC to stay connected with family while travelling (47%).
- 58% check-in at home once a day.
- The telephone is the preferred method of communication, with 67% of using it to reach family back home.
- Only 21% encounter problems with their home and personal relationships because of business travel, far less than travellers from other APAC countries (39%).
India
- 28% of Indian business travellers put more effort to stay connected with family while travelling.
- 44% check-in at home more than once a day.
- 39% prefer to use Skype to reach family back home
Singapore
- 35% of business travellers from Singapore put more effort to stay connected with family while travelling.
- Mobile texting is the preferred method of communication, with 32% of using it to reach family back home,
- Nearly half (49%) of the respondents encounter problems with their home and personal relationships because of business travel.
Australia
- 27% of Australian business travellers put more effort to stay connected with family while traveling – less than the APAC region average of 31%.
- The telephone is the preferred method of communications with family with 39% using it.
- Nearly half (49%) encounter problems with their home and personal relationships because of business travel.
“While technology continues to evolve most travellers still favour traditional ways to connect with family and friends. Digital tools, like video calls, are making it easier for travellers to feel more connected with their family when they’re away,” said Julian Walker, head of external communications at Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
E-COMMERCE: Study finds online fraud is here to stay despite decline in attacks
New trends emerging in online frauds (Image credit: BrianAJackson/iStock-Getty Images)
Online fraud is still prevalent despite a drop in the number of cases in the past years, according to the recently released annual Fraud Attack Index 2017 from Forter, a New York-based e-commerce fraud prevention company.
The report, which analysed millions of successful and unsuccessful attacks throughout the first three quarters of this year, revealed an alarming new normal for e-commerce fraud. Average attack rates remain two and a half times higher than before they began to spike significantly in late 2015, despite an overall decline in 2017 compared to 2016.
Published in collaboration with the Merchant Risk Council, the report also uncovered new trends in online fraud “as bad actors shift strategies and amateur fraudsters become increasingly savvy.”
The report said that despite the stabilisation of overall fraud attack rates for the first time in two years, fraudulent attacks against electronic goods rose by 62% domestically (within the US) during the first three quarters of this year. This is due to fraudsters turning their attention to electronic goods as industries, such as luxury, have begun implementing stalwart defences following periods of vulnerability.
For the first time this year “friendly fraudsters” – ordinary buyers who cheat their way into getting unfair discounts – began rivaling professional fraud techniques.
Additionally policy abuse, where consumers look to game the system by exploiting marketing campaigns or loyalty programmes, was three times more prevalent in 2017, with more sophisticated methods of attack.
Other key findings include:
- Domestic attack rates decreased by 4%, pointing to both stability and a new normal for e-commerce fraud attacks
- Food and beverage fraud increased 117% compared to 2016, likely due to fraudsters increasingly using low-cost food purchases as a testing ground
- Travel and hospitality fraud increased 16% in 2017
- Fraud attempts against apparel sites decreased by 10% overall, though the category has experienced a gradual increase throughout the year
“Our latest Index illustrates how crucial it is that digital merchants take precautions against online fraud, given attack rates have reached a high new normal that we expect to remain consistent,” said Forter CEO and co-founder Michael Reitblat.
Merchants should not mistake this period of stability as an opportunity to stand down, he added. Instead they should implement advanced fraud prevention programme due to “this new norm coupled with sophisticated attack strategies and fraudsters’ evolving profiles”.
In a related development, Forter announced it has launched a new solution called End-to-End Fraud Prevention that monitors individual online purchases for suspicious activity and gives merchants insight into their customers’ buying history and preferences across multiple accounts and devices to catch fraudsters before they strike. Merchants receive notifications of fraud like account takeover, coupon/promo abuse, referral abuse, loyalty programme abuse and multiple account creations in real time as they occur – well before checkout.
The company, which has raised more than US$50 million in VC funding from companies like Sequoia Capital, Scale Venture Partners and NEA, said it processes more than a billion transactions each year.
• Download the Forter/MRC Fraud Attack Index here.
• Featured image credit: SasinParaksa/iStock-Getty Images
