Have you shopped online? Online fraud is what you can come across if not aware, Online fraud is false deception intentionally made for financial gains. Online frauds are of different types:
- Online Spoofing
- Online Phishing.
- Triangulation fraud.
- Data Theft
- Chargeback fraud.
Online Spoofing:
Spoofing is the creation of spam emails that look genuine and trick businesses to take action. No one would knowingly download a Trojan package into the system unless provoked to do it by putting fake popups on security threats for the system. How it’s done? Well, genuine-looking mail is created with corporate graphics of reputed service providers which will guide you on how to protect your business. This professional graphic makes the mail look genuine and tricks businesses to click on the link in the mail. This link executes malicious software which harms the operating system and critical files, it expands through the network and affects clients as well.
How to prevent Spoofing?
-When you receive such suspicious emails best thing to do is hover over the senders’ address, hackers have a domain name that is very much similar to legitimate domain names, so check for spelling mistakes.
-Legitimate institute never sends an attachment like .exe, .bat, or zip, check if the email has an attachment. Red flag the mail and do not follow any instructions written in the mail.
Online Phishing:
Phishing is a form of Spoofing but unlike Spoofing where attackers tend to break into the system and fetch information, Phishing is tricking the end-user to reveal sensitive information wherein a genuine-looking message is forwarded to the end-user which consists of a fake website link. This link redirects the end user to a bogus website that asks for sensitive account-related information. Revealing this information can harm your financial assets.
How to prevent Phishing?
-There is no problem in clicking on the links when you are on a trusted site, but when it comes to clicking on the links within the email or message you need to be 100% sure as these links can be spam links. Before clicking on such a link hover over the email and check if the links direct to what it actually shows. Do not fill in any personal data on such sites as it can be a lure to steal your data.
-Install Anti Phishing tools on a browser as these tools scan the entire websites and check with a list of phishing sites. If you visit any malicious sites the tool prompts immediately, do not visit the site.
Triangulation fraud:
Triangular fraud as the name suggests involvement of three people,
- Customer who places an order.
- Fraud seller.
- Genuine E-commerce site.
How fraud is done? A legitimate-looking website is made by a fraud seller who displays some items at very low prices, which makes the customers buy the products. The customer is unaware of the fraud happening and places an order on this fake website. The fraud seller has stolen credit card information which he uses to make the purchase of those products for which an order has been placed on his fake website. He purchases these products from a genuine website. The customer receives all the updates with the respective product from the seller. The seller sends these updates from a genuine site to the customer.
Who is the criminal? The seller with a stolen credit card is the criminal.
Victims? Well, there are two victims, the customer, If the fraud is discovered, the genuine website will contact the customer to return the stolen products.
and the person whose credit card details were used for transactions is a victim as he is unaware of those transactions.
How to prevent Triangulation fraud?
-Speak with the customer who doubts suspect triangulation fraud, and gather as much information as possible about the seller to determine the fake website.
-Focus on the products as the seller has some list of common products which sell very frequently, this can help to analyze the pattern of fraud.
Chargeback fraud:
Chargeback is the term used for an order from a bank to a business to return the amount paid for a fraudulent purchase. How is a chargeback fraud done? The customer makes a payment through a payment gateway for certain goods or services, later on, he/she claims that the purchase was made fraudulently or makes a false request that the goods were not delivered and claims for a chargeback. When a transaction seems legitimate then chargeback is the only way to get the money back.
How to prevent Chargeback Fraud?
The customer claims a chargeback for many reasons so the first step will be to identify the reason for a chargeback. Sometimes the customer can claim a chargeback if the description doesn’t go with the product when delivered. So work on the description to avoid a chargeback.
-Use delivery confirmation to ensure that the product has been delivered to the customer, at times it happens that a customer is not at home and the package is left on the porch which can be stolen, so for you, the item is delivered but the customer did not receive the product for which chargeback can be claimed.
