Online retailers were urged to be more vocal about their anti-fraud efforts in order to reassure customers, as the latest UK Online Fraud Report was released this week by payment solutions provider CyberSource.

While over half of respondents said they now take more precautions when shopping online, a quarter said retailers should be responsible for making the experience safer.
"This is in contrast to the retailers, who think other parties are to blame," explained CyberSource managing director Simon Stokes. "It's a grey area and something we need to bring clarity to as an industry otherwise the merchants are in for a hard time."

The research also found that 82 per cent of consumers only shop with " reputable name retailers". But the message to both big name brands and those outside this list is the same, according to Stokes.

"I have concerns in that anecdotally just because you're a big brand name doesn't mean you're any better at fraud prevention than a midmarket vendor," said Stokes. "The e-commerce high street is a fickle place – merchants need to demonstrate best practices by showing 3-D Secure and PCI compliance or that they are using a fraud screening service. "

But for those that do get their fraud prevention and risk management strategies in order, the rewards could be great, said Stokes. In total, 50 per cent of consumers interviewed said they still never shop online, which could mean a large potential market.

In related news, firms received further warning today that their brands are still under threat from criminals as the latest Threat Report from security service provider MessageLabs found an increase of 0.13 per cent in the proportion of phishing attacks this month compared to last. This means that phishing emails account for nearly 90 per cent of all malware threats intercepted by the firm in January.