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1. Introduction
Security is a fundamental and increasingly important issue in today's banking industry ([32] Kanniainen, 2010). Over the last few years, the number of fraudulent transactions committed by third parties has risen tremendously ([7] Banks, 2005). Consequently, fraud prevention has become a central concern to banks, customers, and public policy makers ([51] Sullivan, 2010). As banking fraud might ultimately affect customer relationship quality and customer loyalty, fraud prevention and its effective communication is an important topic for academic research.
Banking fraud hurts both banks and their customers. Banks incur substantial operating costs by refunding customers' monetary losses ([23] Gates and Jacob, 2009), while bank customers experience considerable time and emotional losses. They have to detect the fraudulent transactions, communicate them to their bank, initiate the blocking and re-issuance or re-opening of a card or account, and dispute the reimbursement of their monetary losses ([19] Douglass, 2009; [39] Malphrus, 2009). Becoming a fraud victim may also impact customers' perception of feeling secure and protected at their bank. Accordingly, fraud may damage the bank-customer relationship because of shattered trust and confidence ([33] Krummeck, 2000), as well as increased dissatisfaction because of a perceived service failure ([53] Varela-Neira et al. , 2010). This, in turn, may negatively affect customer loyalty and stimulate switching behavior ([47] Rauyruen and Miller, 2007; [25] Gruber, 2011), thereby hurting the banks' reputation and impeding the attraction of new customers ([901] Buchanan, 2010).
Fraud prevention may thus entail chances for banks to enhance the relationships with their customers. It gives banks the opportunity to (re-)assure customer trust in their services ([26] Guardian Analytics, 2011). Indeed, the associated feeling of security may be an effective means to retain existing customers and attract new ones ([10] Behram, 2005). However, in order to translate fraud prevention into higher-quality relationships, communication is key. Effective communication allows a bank to evoke a shared understanding of values between itself and its customers ([6] Asif and Sargeant, 2000). Banks should therefore demonstrate their knowledge and competence regarding fraud prevention by communicating anti-fraud measures effectively, thereby creating a feeling of safety among customers ([47] Rauyruen and Miller, 2007). This feeling of safety likely improves customer relationship quality and customer loyalty, which are key success factors in the highly competitive retail banking...