Ecommerce Grows With Scams and Security Incidents

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a rise in online shopping and online criminals are taking advantage of this. In 2020, we are dedicated to the use of connected devices that have grown considerably. This phenomenon had never been seen before. A few months after quarantines were decreed in different countries, global and local reports released data showing the growth of Internet traffic. And all this growth added to COVID-19 motivated users to turn more towards online purchases. Although non-essential services such as tourism were among the most affected, the demand for other products increased globally.

Some businesses and startups were already prepared for e-commerce, while others took a while to enter the field and, in some cases, had to be started by force, experimenting for the first time and without having sufficient knowledge about the online security aspects. Sadly, criminals were also on the lookout for this phenomenon as the cases of fraud and phishing attacks, compromised websites and fake profiles grew. While criminals often use familiar strategies, they continue to be effective. According to the cases reviewed and analyzed, scams and attacks around online shopping occur on the one hand in large well-known platforms, such as Daraz, but also in online stores created by companies and entrepreneurs.

On the other hand, the scenario was open to the use of alternative technologies, such as the use of WhatsApp or social networks to buy and sell. The vast majority of users say that they noticed that businesses implemented new tools for online sales during 2020. Faced by this scenario, users need to be vigilant and learn to recognize a scam on the Internet and take note of these tips to make safe online purchases. For their part, companies and online stores should also be vigilant, especially on special dates such as Blessed Friday, Eid Holidays and Independence Day, among others.

At an international level, different organizations issued alerts throughout 2020, warning about the increase in deception and scams in online purchases. In Spain, in mid-April, Internet scams had increased by 70%, according to data from the Civil Guard. In Argentina, in July, the increase in Internet crimes rose to 50%, according to data from the Fiscal Unit Specialized in Cybercrime.

The strategies and techniques used by criminals globally are not new. The FBI, for example, in August published an alert explaining that they registered an increase in the number of complaints about online scams. For example, some people did not get the products they ordered, some customers reported they were directed to sites through ads on social networks after searching for online shopping sites. Many complaints referred to fake sites whose content had been copied from legitimate sites and which used domains that instead of being .com were ‘.cem’ or ‘.cse’. On the other hand, these sites had been recently and privately registered to avoid disclosing personal information of their registrants. Many of these were fake sites which were promoted through advertisements on social networks, explained the FBI.

Through strategies such as the use of fake ads on social platforms, phishing campaigns, fake profiles on e-commerce platforms, or web skimming attacks, cybercriminals seek to steal money, credit card data, passwords, or other personal information. For example, a local online source revealed that a phone salesperson lost not only his mobile equipment but the money from the sale as well. Most of the time, scammers take advantage of human vulnerabilities, either through ignorance or the inexperience of buyers and sellers. These errors range from not verifying the identity of the person making the purchase or continuing the operation outside the platform where the transaction is made, leaving in these cases the seller without the support of the platform. So we must be very careful and should always go for authentic sources to buy our needed products online.