Gen Z, Fraud, and the Fine Line Between Rebellion and Risk: A Co-Founder’s Take

Hi, I'm Louie, I am 23 years old, and I am the co-founder of Retail Cache. I spend my days thinking about data, and how to help retailers sleep better at night. But today, I want to talk about something that's been keeping everyone up: Gen Z and their curious relationship with fraud.

According to a recent Payments Journal article by Sift, 42% of Gen Zer's admitted to engaging in first party fraud. That's not a typo. Forty two percent. That's nearly half of an entire generation saying, "Yeah, I got the product, liked it, but still disputed the charge." It's like the digital version of eating the whole cake and asking for a refund because it was too delicious.

What's Going on Here?

Let's unpack this. Gen Z is the most online generation in history. They live in a world where anonymity is easy, transactions are frictionless, and corporations are often seen as faceless monoliths. Combine that with a healthy dose of economic anxiety and a dash of anti-capitalist sentiment, and you've got a recipe for - first party fraud.

But here's the twist: many Gen Zer's don't see it as fraud. They see it as justice. A way to "punish the corporation" for bad service, high prices, or just existing in a system they didn't design.

From One Generation to Another

If you're a business owner reading this and thinking, "Back in my day, we paid for things and liked it," you're not wrong. But the landscape has changed. Today's consumers are savvy, sceptical, and sometimes a little too comfortable with the grey areas of digital ethics.

That doesn't mean we should throw our hands up. It means we need smarter systems, better communication, and dare I say it, more empathy.

What Retail Cache Is Doing About It

At Retail Cache, we're building fraud prevention tools that do not just block bad actors, they understand them. We believe in adaptive friction, the idea that security should be smart, not suffocating. Our systems learn from behaviour, not just blacklists. Because let's face it, Gen Z isn't going away and neither is their scepticism.

We're also big on collaborative intelligence. Fraud doesn't happen in a vacuum, and neither should fraud prevention. By sharing insights across retailers without compromising privacy, we can spot patterns faster and respond smarter.

Bridging the Generational Gap

To the Gen Zer's reading this: we see you. You want transparency, fairness, and accountability. So do we. Let's build systems that reflect those values without turning every refund into a rebellion.

And to the older generations: don't write off Gen Z as just fraudsters. They're challenging norms, yes, but they're also shaping the future of commerce. Let's meet them halfway, with tools that protect and respect.