Semalt: Common Types of Fraud Affecting E-Commerce

23.05.2018

Semalt: Common Types of Fraud
Affecting E-Commerce

Criminals seem attracted to the alternative payment methods as they serve as a perfect place to conduct fraud.
Ever since the year 2013, e-commerce fraud cases have increased by 19% in that for every $100, 5.65 cents go to
the fraudsters.

The following article, Max Bell, the Semalt Customer Success Manager, explains the most common types of e-
commerce fraud.

Identity Theft

They account for 71%, 66% phishing, and 63% account theft. The attackers mostly target credit cards. The goal here
is to carry out transactions with a different identity as coming up with a new identity is tedious. Fraudsters target

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23.05.2018

personal information, which enables them to conduct these online transactions. Phishing is a widely used method to
sh for client information from websites. Pharming is a technique whereby an attacker manipulates a website to

direct customers to a given website, from where the passwords they use are then used to appropriate someone's
identity. Attacks on e-commerce providers, and using malware to attacks websites also fall into this category. Man-
in-the-middle attacks are more sophisticated and involve siphoning data by hijacking communication between the
website and the customer.

Friendly Fraud

Here, customers order for goods and then use a "pull" form of
payment like a direct debit, or credit card. They then initiate a
chargeback claiming that their account information was hacked or
stolen. These types of customers get wrongly reimbursed, yet
keep the goods or services. It goes hand in hand with re-shipping
whereby the customer does not want to avail their physical
address for delivery. Rather, they use intermediaries who use their
details to acquire the product.

Clean Fraud

In this case, a hacker uses a credit card to make a purchase, but they manipulate the details of the transactions to
circumvent the fraud detection systems. Fraudsters require technical expertize to carry out this kind of fraud. It
requires mastering how the detection systems work, and a great deal about the owners of the stolen card. They
then use this correct information to fool the system. Before carrying out a successful clean fraud activity, they must
test the card to see if it works.

A liate Fraud

One may use a fully automated process or get real people to log in as merchants using fake accounts. The objective
is to gather as much money as they can from af liate programs by manipulating traf c or statistics for the sign-up
forms.

Triangulation Fraud

It involves three processes. The rst is to create a fake storefront offering low prices on goods with high demand.
The second step is to use stolen credit card data and using the names gathered off of these credit cards, make
purchases from real stores. They make sure to deliver the product to the customer to ensure credibility on rst
purchase. Finally, the fraudster uses the information from the stolen card to make further purchases.

Merchant Fraud 2/3

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This type of fraud is straightforward: the fraudster offers goods at
low prices, but never ships them to the customer. They, however,
keep the payments and is not unique to a particular type of
payment.

More International Fraud

The prevalence of fraud is the lack of an integrated system to
provide a singular view of all the transactions made in over 14
countries, and in different markets. 52% view increased fraud as a signi cant challenge, and a similar number not
aware of the tools available to them for fraud prevention. Language barriers inhibit management of fraud across
countries, and for individuals.

Different Devices

Fraud proves to be a challenge for any merchant. However, as they adopt a multichannel sales medium, the threat is
bound to exacerbate. Third party websites lead in fraud activity, followed by mobile phones, and nally, merchant's
websites.

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