Survey fraud and the operational cost of international incentives were central themes in Virtual Incentives' recap of ESOMAR Congress 2022 in Toronto. Published on September 28, 2022, the account describes how researchers were balancing respondent checks with a manageable reward-delivery process.

The company attended a panel titled 'Freeze, Fraudster! Keeping up with the evolving methods of survey imposters', which featured leading data quality experts and former fraudsters. The panelists described the never-ending arms race between the good guys trying to verify respondents' identities and the fraudsters finding workarounds to get around the latest checks.

The article notes that the industry needs to incorporate intrinsic security and fraud-prevention tools in every step of the process. Virtual Incentives believes that the engagement created by the payment of an incentive plays a key role in this, and they have features that turn the delivery of an incentive into an effective fraud-reducing step in the participant journey.

Another challenge that came up in conversations with market research leaders was how to make the process of fielding surveys and distributing payments more efficient and cost-effective, particularly when targeting international respondents. Many organizations start with one payment type or provider, such as gift cards, and as their programs become more complex, they decide to offer more rewards from additional providers.

In the 2022 account, Virtual Incentives said its platform offered digital and physical payment choices from more than 4,000 brands. It argued that consolidating rewards could reduce the administrative work created by adding separate providers for gift cards, prepaid cards and cash.

The company identified incentive delivery itself as a potential stage for fraud controls, alongside checks used during respondent recruitment and survey participation. Its broader recommendation was to consider security and reward fulfilment as parts of the same participant journey.