Online shopping brings a number of opportunities for its customers. Nevertheless, this offers a similar amount of opportunities for the scamsters of eCommerce.
The best possible way to protect your store and customers from these eCommerce scams is by taking preventative measures. But, first of all, let’s discuss eCommerce scams.
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Meaning of eCommerce Scam?
eCommerce scams include any sort of fraud which takes place on an e-commerce site or platform. It also includes the target frauds and impersonate frauds related to websites. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping saw a dramatic surge in it. But, with the dramatic increase in e-shopping, the cases of online and eCommerce frauds and scams also jumped. As per a report, eCommerce frauds jumped 18% over the previous year to the COVID-19 time and it surpassed a total of $20 billion in losses.
The ecosystem of eCommerce makes it easy for cybercriminals to achieve eCommerce consumers’ card details. They trick people by creating convincing-looking eCommerce scams and making people believe in them, all while hiding their original identity.
Also Read: Informative guide on how to fix WooCommerce checkout not working.
5 Most Common eCommerce Scams
Brand Impersonation
Brand impersonation is the most common scam in this current digital era. In this scam, fraudsters pretend to be a trusted company or brand to trick eCommerce consumers for disclosing their personal information like bank account details, credit card details, etc.
This scam may come in various forms. Cybercriminals can use brand hijacking to impersonate the company email address, with which they can send emails that look like official to the customers.
Brand impersonation can happen by email, over the phone, and also by postal mail. That’swhy, it is crucial to understand that all the fraud attacks related to eCommerce are not only happening virtually.
Google Ads Click Fraud
Google Ads click fraud is an eCommerce scam that can seriously harm your eCommerce site’s bottom line.
This fraud takes place when a person fraudulently clicks on your pay-per-click (PPC) ads for generating advertising charges which directly exhaust your advertising budget.
Google Ads click fraud may be committed by click bots, web crawlers, and click farms and mainly by your competitors. Competitors do this fraudulent exercise to waste your ad budget which directly helps them in claiming the number one spot in online advertising. Moreover, click bots, web crawlers, and click farms are created to click your ad thousands of times to disturb your budget and to create unnaturally inflate engagement.
Account Takeover Fraud
In Account takeover fraud (ATO), cybercriminals imitate genuine customers by accessing their eCommerce accounts and making unauthorized transactions.
Scammers commit account takeover fraud with the help of phishing scams or other types of fraudulent activity to achieve access to customers’ login credentials. Once they have access, scammers use the consumers’ accounts to do fraudulent purchases. Once the scammers have access, they also change the passwords and account information for covering their frauds tracks.
If you ever spot an ATO, firstly hold the transaction and after that investigate the transaction by comparing it with the previous transaction.
Card Cracking
This scam is majorly known as card testing or CNP (card not being present) fraud. Card cracking is a scam related to credit cards in which the fraudster uses a consumer’s credit card information without the availability of the card in person.
This fraudulent exercise can be very bad for your eCommerce website’s reputation. Because, if this CNP fraud happens on your website and the customer detects it, then it is your responsibility to reimburse them.
If your eCommerce store doesn’t have security measures for protecting the personal information of your customers, then you are putting them at risk of card cracking. For protecting your customers from CNP fraud, always make sure that your payment gateway provider demands users’ addresses and CVV numbers for verification at the time of payment.
Chargeback Fraud
Chargeback fraud also known as friendly fraud is an eCommerce scam that is done by customers with their banks. In this fraud, customers do a purchase with their credit card and then request a chargeback from their bank after receiving their order.
In this fraud, consumers directly communicate with the bank and ask to reimburse their purchase cost without even telling or notifying the payment merchant and eCommerce site.
Some of the main reasons for chargeback disputes:
- The dissatisfaction of customers with their purchase
- No recognization of the charge by the customers on their bank statement
- When the consumer is expecting a refund but hasn’t yet received one
- Charged more than once for one purchase
- Intentionally requests a chargeback to get the money back without no reason
Final Words
All in all, eCommerce is at its boon because of this digital era. And, it provides a variety of options to the customers in just a few clicks on the phone or laptop. But, as we all know, every good thing has its negative effect also, and the same applies to eCommerce too. The eCommerce scams which are going on these sites are the biggest drawback for the eCommerce owners as well as for the consumers. So, always take preventive action to minimize the fraud chances.
