Christmas Fraud Online Retailers Urged to be Vigilant

Whilst Christmas is a time of joy and peak trading for online retailers, those with a responsibility for fraud prevention might be forgiven for not embracing a mood of joy and goodwill to all men.

Research indicates that online retail will reach £8.9bn this Christmas, representing 20% of all UK sales[1].And as orders increase over the peak trading season, so do fraud attempts, which combined with the number of extra orders and higher than usual basket values , can make fraudulent attempts more difficult than usual to spot.

Here 192business examine 3 types of fraud that ecommerce operators should be increasingly aware of across the Christmas period…

1. Christmas Temporary Staff Fraud

The threat of allowing new employees into situations where sensitive customer data may be available; a particular concern following the theft of data from a large telecoms company by call centre staff. Read More>>

2. Wardrobing

Using goods only to return them after the event – haven’t got the money for a new Christmas party dress? Try wardrobing – a rising threat to ecommerce retailers thanks in part to Facebook photo sharing. Read More>>

3. Festive First Party Fraud
Occurs when a customer receives their goods but then denies all knowledge of either ordering or receiving them – thus claiming a refund and still keeping their fraudulently obtained Christmas presents. Read More>>

[1]Centre for Retail Research

Combating Fraud

192business have two perfect solutions to help ecommerce sites screen for fraud and leave their staff more time to look out for the frauds mentioned above. Batch-ID is a batch processing tool to automatically verify multiple transactions, whilst Fraud Screening checks transactions against other retailer’s reports of fraud