Fake applications and fraudulent schemes are one of the main challenges for financial technology companies specializing in credit, this was stated by the participants of the “Digital Financial Inclusion Forum”, organized by the Mexican Association of Specialized Financial Entities (AMFE) and Tala .
Faced with the problem, Wilfrido Perea, general director of Financial Education at the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services (Condusef), pointed out that the institution is carrying out work to protect users from fraudulent applications.
“They have very powerful database management, they have support engineers who are doing this intelligence work, some particular cases surprise us. It is becoming more sophisticated and we must understand it that way, it is a great challenge for us as an authority on technology and intelligence. We must be up to the task, because they have that capacity”, commented Perea.
As of August 2022, 718 “debt mount” applications had been reported, according to a list published by the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City. Of those reported, 281 active applications were identified, 45 web pages, 83 platforms that were terminated and 309 were not found.
To combat fraudulent entities, Perea pointed out that the Condusef collaborates with the cyber police, at the federal and local levels, to attend to the complaints that are received. However, he indicated that there are cases that are not within the jurisdiction of the Commission.
Therefore, he pointed out that education plays a fundamental role in preventing users from falling into fraudulent financial institutions, which is why it seeks to create more ambitious educational plans, with diplomas that exceed 40 hours in duration.
“We have to be sufficiently incentive, creative, to make them attractive,” added Perea.
The role of the players
On the other hand, the platforms that operate legally and that were also impacted by fraudulent applications agree that it is necessary to generate education for prevention.
During her speech, Shivani Siroya, executive director and founder of Tala Mobile, pointed out the importance of bringing together different players in the financial system to provide certainty to those who access financial services virtually.
“We need to keep the conversation going so that we can really generate new ideas for the benefit of users, we must also hold each other accountable, the ideal is to do it through forums and that we are assuming our public commitment to information, security, education and really protecting the digital” Siroya pointed out.
In addition, he stressed that the entities must have educational content that supports the understanding of financial products, especially everything related to the use of credit.
“We have to continue to measure our product. Question ourselves if we are really having an impact and analyze how we can measure it internally,” Siroya said.
Cristine Chang, vice president of revenue at Tribal, noted that technology can leverage education and upgrading for financial services, adding that the task of fintechs will be to find better solutions, in addition to facilitating access to credit through the use of tools such as artificial intelligence.
“Even though an application is very good, if people don’t know how to use it or how to manage credit, we won’t be able to meet our vision of growing with our customers, with SMEs. So we don’t look for them to obtain credits that they can’t manage later”, Chang commented.
