New study finds the future is bright for mobile payments despite fraud risks

The 2017 Mobile Payments and Fraud report by mobile security firm and ETA member Kount Inc. has found significant increases in merchant support for mobile commerce as well as major increases in mobile revenue for merchants across myriad industry. The report, the 5th annual of its kind, also found that comfort and perceived security of mobile payments among merchants has also increased despite increases in risk and persistence of mobile payments fraud.

The report found that since 2013, merchants who earn half of their total revenue through mobile payments has increased from two percent to 10 percent of all global merchants. Another 26 percent of all merchants believe that mobile payments will represent more than half of their revenue within the next two years. Further, the percent of all merchants earning less than 10 percent of their total revenue through mobile channels has fallen from 78 percent in 2013 to 36 percent this year.

While revenues rise, so too do reports of mobile channel fraud. According to the report, close to 40 percent of merchants say that mobile fraud increased in the past year, up from 23 percent last year. Conversely, whereas 17 percent reported a decrease in mobile channel fraud last year, only six percent of merchants reported such a decrease this year.
However, the survey also reported an increase in mobile payment detection capabilities among merchants, and over 70 percent of all merchants thought that it was at least important to be able to detect when a mobile device is being used to pay.

Over 800 merchants participated in the survey.