If you’ve ever worked on a loyalty app, you probably know the feeling. One day, support tickets spike. Something feels off. And then it hits: thousands of points, maybe millions, are gone. Stolen. Redeemed. And your best customers are angry.

Most product teams don’t think deeply about fraud prevention until they’re in the middle of a crisis. I know this because I’ve been there.

For over 20 years, I’ve led product strategy for retail platforms, loyalty programs, and mobile apps for brands like Petro-Canada, Sobeys, and LCBO. I’ve seen firsthand how good design intentions , like frictionless redemption or personalized offers, can unintentionally open the door to fraudsters.

And once that trust is gone, it’s hard to win back.

The Invisible Threat in “Good UX”

Modern loyalty apps focus on speed, ease, and simplicity. That’s great… until it isn’t.

Fraud doesn’t always look like a big breach. It’s often slow, targeted, and quietly devastating. Bots test credentials. Bad actors redeem gift cards from hijacked accounts. It can go unnoticed for weeks — until your customers start calling.

What’s scary is how easy it is to miss the signs. Most teams are focused on growth metrics, feature delivery, and user feedback. Security? That’s someone else’s job.

But in loyalty, security is part of the user experience.

A Real Lesson from the Field

At one point, we launched a…

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