Against a background of very strong cybercrime pressure and increasing digital usage, this innovative service helps to boost the Group's anti-fraud measures while at the same time removing customer irritants, with convincing results. 

The customer at the heart of the system 

The Interactive Fraud SMS offering, built in conjunction with CATS and the Payment Methods Users Centre, makes it possible to send text messages to the customer in the event of suspected fraud detected by real-time alert tools and to invite the customer to respond directly to the text message to confirm whether or not he or she is the origin of the transaction. 

This mechanism has a triple advantage for the customer and for the Group's banks : 

• A step forward in the fight against customer irritation : if a transaction is wrongly refused on suspicion of fraud, the customer can, by simply replying to the SMS, unblock his or her subsequent transactions immediately. 
• Improved fraud detection and customer protection : the customer's autonomy to report fraud allows for quicker implementation of precautionary measures, thus blocking future fraudulent transactions. 
• A reduction in back-office costs for the Regional Banks : this service avoids the need to call on AVEM's teams to deal with customer responses and fraud alerts.? 

Very positive results after 3 months of use

After a pilot involving 4 Regional Banks in November*, the service was rolled out to all Regional Banks on 10 December and the feedback has been very positive : 

• More than 40,000 SMS messages are sent to customers each week to warn them of suspected fraud. 
• Strong support and responsiveness : 75% of customers who respond to the texts do so in less than 15 minutes. 
• A goal of reducing customer inconvenience achieved very quickly : 77% of customers who retry their purchase within 24 hours complete their transaction thanks to unblocking by text message. 
• Confirmation by AVEM of the significant decrease in the invoicing of fraud processing for the Regional Banks. 

Future prospects : extending this service to new areas

A project is already underway to make the Interactive Fraud SMS service available to LCL customers, and the possibility of extending the service to transfers - and in particular to Instant Payment - is being studied. 

Lastly, the high level of customer responsiveness to text messages is enabling Crédit Agricole Payment Services to capitalise on this information to develop new fraud detection models based on Artificial Intelligence. 

CAPS Data Scientists and Fraud Business Experts have implemented a fraud attack detection model, which now makes it possible to identify new threats in a few hours, without waiting for fraud declarations from customer complaints, and thus greatly limit the duration and impact of these attacks. 

* Nord Midi-Pyrénées, Ile-de-France, Brie Picardie, Provence Côte d'Azur