Peer-to-peer transfers

Fraud Prevention

Zelle, like any other digital payment platform, can unfortunately be subject to various fraudulent activities. Fraudsters may send fake emails, texts, or social media messages pretending to be Zelle or a bank. They'll ask for personal information, such as account numbers or passwords, under the guise of verifying your identity or account. In some cases, Zelle users had fallen victim to fraud through complex scams.

Overview

As Zelle fraud is becoming rampant in online banking, our team urgently needed to create a solution for the consumer to quickly self-correct any potential fraudulent transactions. We were able to flag these transactions as possible fraud, but we needed to design a solution for the consumer to self-serve in the event of fraud. This expedited the process of recovering any funds that may have been sent to the fraudster.

A journey map of the consumer's emotional state was a crucial part of this design's genesis; from the apprehensive moment they receive the fraud notice, to the moment they feel the relief of having recovered funds to their bank account. This helped us design from an empathetic point-of-view, keeping the consumer's safety and peace of mind at the forefront of our design decisions.

‍

Approach

Working closely with our fraud team to understand common scams, I incorporated educational pieces in the flow to help the user understand how fraudsters prey on their victims. Once the user cancels the transaction, they encounter a screen where they select from a list of common scenarios in which fraud occurs, or enter the information in a custom text field. This helps collect essential information in order to prepare for future fraud scenarios.

No items found.

Results

Process

I worked side-by-side with my design partner responsible for the online banking website to design a flow that would prompt our consumers to urgently take action when our fraud team flags a transaction. After sending the user an alert, we then present them with an educational modal explaining some common Zelle scams. This helps the user familiarize themselves with tactics bad actors use such as guilt or inciting urgency to manipulate their victims.

‍

User journey map illustrating the user's perspective.

‍

Design

Incorporating Zelle's design elements and design patterns as seamlessly as possible with the bank's UI, as this lives within the Fifth Third mobile banking app, was important to help the user easily discover the steps they need to take to complete this task.

‍

Flow allowing user to correct a charge flagged as fraud.

Obstacles

Some challenges arose initially when the problem was presented to me with a solution already in mind. This prompted me to create the journey map, illustrating the emotions incited when a user first gets a fraud alert to the moment they are able to quickly resolve the issue without calling our customer service team.

Our fraud team was an essential player in understanding common scams, but also understanding the tactics scammers use in order to manipulate users, including speaking to them on the phone, guiding them through the Zelle transaction. For that reason, we needed to understand the timing in which the user would need to receive fraud alerts via push notification, text message, and email.

Navigation and Usability

Users can easily locate and access the transaction in question and take recourse with our customer service agents through our native chat feature, if necessary.

Overall Impact

According to data from EWS published in a report by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Zelle users lost an estimated $440 million to fraud and scams in 2021 alone. After implementing this design change, we brought our Zelle fraud call volume down by 80%.

View Live Project

Next Project