E-commerce is expected to constitute about 22% of all retail sales by 2023, which is a 7.9% increase from 2019. There has been a boost in e-commerce as it allows businesses to thrive even when the world is going through a pandemic. But as there always stand two sides to a coin, while we consider the ease and cost reduction as benefits of the e-commerce world, it’s challenging to overlook the payment scams that come with it.
As e-commerce is the future of the retail industry, there has been a massive concern at the global marketing summits about the growing e-commerce scams. Let’s discuss the techniques and strategies scammers adopt to get into the eCommerce world and exploit it for their benefit.
Common Types Of Ecommerce Scams
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Card Cracking Scam
A card cracking scam is when scammers gain access to someone’s card, which is unknown to the cardholder. Even though they have the card numbers, they aren’t sure about the card limits or whether they can complete a transaction. To check these, scammers try to make small purchases using the card details on any eCommerce website, and once they can purchase the items, they become sure of their confusion. They make these small purchases so that the owner doesn’t get to know about these transactions, concludes many traders at the top eCommerce conferences in 2022. After that, the scammers start making big purchases with the same card numbers, which is when the owner learns about the card’s misuse.
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Refund Scam
In the refund scam, the scammer makes a payment to the eCommerce website using a stolen credit card. After the payment, they unknowingly inform the eCommerce merchant about the extra amount and ask for reimbursement in an alternative account as the credit card is closed or due to other reasons. The merchant returns the money to the scammer’s account, which waits for its payment from the original credit card owner. Although it appears legit to the merchant, later, he realizes that the scammers have tricked him.
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Interception Scam
In this, the scammer places orders on an eCommerce website at the address of the stolen credit card details. After placing the order, they look for ways to intercept the order. To receive the order at their place, they either call customer service and ask them to change the delivery address, contact the shippers to reroute the package or reach the area to receive the order. They try to get the order before it goes to the actual owner.
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Account Takeover Scam
Scammers try to get into the eCommerce security systems and get users’ data to hack their accounts. Once they get the user’s account, they make unnecessary purchases, avail funds, and access other related accounts. It is one of the most talked about e-commerce scams at the global marketing summit.
Many retailers at the Marketing 2.0 Conference highlighted how these account takeover scams affect their brand as people believe they are selling user data to scammers. In reality, eCommerce websites are unaware of these back-end scams that affect their business harshly.
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Triangulation Scam
The scammers set up a storefront that sells high-demand products at reasonable prices. Storefront brings in a lot of legitimate customers who then place orders to get the offered products at a competitive price. The scammers then buy those products from the relevant eCommerce website by paying from stolen cards. Then deliver the product to the legit customers. Although the customers receive authentic products at an affordable price, they are bought by scammers at the cost of someone’s credit card details stolen from an eCommerce website.
Quick Tips Suggested At Top Ecommerce Conferences in 2022 To Fight eCommerce Scams
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Scam Detection Solutions
Implement scam detection solutions for your eCommerce business, which can help identify red flag transactions and prevent the merchants from the common e-commerce scams. It is one of the best prevention methods that can protect companies and businesses of different sizes who don’t have enough knowledge, resources, or time to apply scam solutions themselves.
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Maintenance Of PCI Compliance
Ecommerce companies can maintain a safe and secure environment by adopting the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which helps them check their payments, data storage, and intrusion of scammers. PCI compliance is a basic need to maintain your business’s security and privacy of visiting customers. Global marketing summits highlight the importance of PCI compliance to stay safe from any penalties or sanctions.
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Remain Cautious During Holidays
Holidays are a time of infinite purchases considering unexpected offers and discounts. But at the same time, scammers are equally prepared to invade as the customers. It is the time that demands more alertness from the eCommerce businesses to avoid falling for the setups created by the scammers to use your company for their benefit.
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Blocklist The Scammers
Whenever you witness someone making continuous small purchases, trying to get a reimbursement for paying some extra dollars, or changing address frequently through a phone call, make sure to add them to your block list. Although they can always come back with a different email, at least you will have a list of red flags for their previous accounts.
These are a few ways suggested at various top eCommerce conferences in 2022 to prevent yourself as an eCommerce business from falling into the scammer’s trap. For more queries around eCommerce strategies, tools, techniques, or even prevailing scams, one can attend upcoming retail events in 2022, like the Marketing 2.0 Conference in the USA and Dubai. One can witness not just the tools but also learn from the experiences of other global marketers about the ways to handle scams in the marketing world.
