0
1
The e-commerce world is continually facing a threat to its rising fame and user appreciation; e-commerce fraud. There has been a steady rise in sales tied to e-commerce platforms across the globe with many embracing the trend. In the same manner, e-commerce fraud has been making a gradual climb from 2015 to date.
A report commissioned by Experian highlights the plight of the online trading sector. Statistics reveal a 30% rise in fraud threats in 2017. The report shows that this bundle of illegal activities on the dark web affects more than 5% of the entire population in the United States.
While e-commerce is a global disaster, the U.S. bears the lion’s share of the burden. American merchants are more at risk than traders anywhere else in the world.
In 2016, the affected included over 30% than the previous year. Presented in plain numerical terms, over 1,000 cases of fraud were reported in 2016. Information from the Identity Theft Resource Center indicated that the rise hit 40% more than the previous year as 2017 started.
An astounding 16 million people fell victim to one form or another of e-commerce fraud. About 278 cases have already been reported in 2018, laying the foundation for an unexpected record number of crimes recorded.
According to Experian, the rise in fraud occurrences has been a dramatic one. The burden of fraud in the online dark web market is caused more by two particularly stubborn areas of fraud; shipping and billing. Identity theft also features in the mix but with a much lesser impact than the two.
Identity fraud involves one using another’s information and details without consent and with malicious intent. It could be to commit a crime in the name of the unsuspecting individual or simply drain out their financial resources. The US Department of Justice identifies three main ways through which the security of one’s personal details can be compromised; shoulder surfing, intercepting and redirecting personal mail and employing advanced computation techniques to acquire the victim’s details.
Frequent dark web leaks can be blamed for the ensuing calamity. They have left many users vulnerable to online threats. Shipping fraud as indicated in the Experian report saw a slightly less than 40% increase while billing fraud was recorded at 34% increase. In their 2016 report, Experian observed a regional pattern of distribution for the fraud cases. In 2017, shipping fraud was concentrated in the Western U.S. with a 60% increase. Billing fraud, on the other hand, recorded the highest climb in the North and Central regions.
While shipping fraud uses the address for reception of illegal goods, billing fraud occurs when one’s address is identified to have been used in purchasing the goods.
“Except for its lower amounts of online transaction activities, Venezuela would have topped the charts of the countries with the highest risk in online shopping,” Matt Tatham a data analyst attached to Experian said.
To read the orignal article:
