Regardless of its cause , the result is a growing laissez faire attitude -- if not outright acceptance -- toward lessthan-honest behavior on the part of consumers , particularly when it comes to interacting with businesses online .
Who hasn ' t fudged the reason for an online return in order to dodge reverse shipping charges ? Or simply not said anything when an online purchase was bungled in their favor , perhaps by two items showing up instead of one ?
While those examples seem innocuous , a portion of today ’ s consumers are increasingly justifying blatantly fraudulent behavior . Just look at a survey of renters that my company commissioned during the pandemic to measure apartment application fraud .
When asked their view of altering financial documents to apply for an apartment , nearly a quarter – 24 % -- said doing so was either “ somewhat ” or “ extremely ” acceptable . But what ' s even more telling was the response of property managers themselves : one-sixth of them , or 16 %, had the same view .
That acceptance among apartment pros , whose livelihood depends on accurately vetting applicants so they don ' t incur a $ 7,500 expense for a preventable eviction down the road , is a headscratcher .
It may simply come from how often landlords see fraud today – 85 % now report being targeted by application fraudsters , compared to 66 % pre-pandemic .
While it ' s an area I ' m intimately familiar with , it ' s also just a small snapshot of the growing prevalence of fraud schemes customers use to target businesses today .
The good news is , companies can combat this trend .
Educating teams to be on the lookout for fraud is the first step . Training them to request more documentation , and how to spot a fake , is another .
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You can also align your employees ’ financial incentives to stop fraud before it starts by tying incentives to post-transaction outcomes , such as qualified sales metrics .
Finally , providing your employees digital and AI tools to mount a defense can provides the resources they need to win this fight .
While the trend is troubling , business owners can take a stand against the growing acceptance and legitimization of “ post-truth ” consumerism .
Think of doing so as your own contribution to calling bullsh * t on the fraud economy .
Daniel Berlind is CEO at Snappt and President of Berlind Properties
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