Internet fraud awareness...
Date Published 25/04/2008 - Click here for more recent news
EASIserv.com are accredited providers of the leading e-commerce software programme Actinic when creating online shops for both businesses and personal users. For secure online payments we tend to work with industry leading payment service providers such as PayPal and PROTX who are, thankfully, most aggressive and adroit in fighting identity theft and fraud. PayPal allows any business or consumer to quickly set-up and receive payments online - securely. This is vital in today’s online climate - as the criminal fraternity has been reported to commit credit and debit card fraud to a far greater degree than at first thought. PayPal uses an extensive fraud-prevention programme that includes 24/7 transaction monitoring, worldwide fraud "Specialist Tips" for buying online and customer identity checks.
BBC news recently revealed that, according to banking industry data, credit-card losses from telephone, Internet and Mail Order crime - totalled in excess of £290m in 2007! Criminals are most keen on buying easily-disposable gadgets such as Sat Navs, Laptops and PDAs that they will either ship abroad and sell for a marked-up price or, if they are eager to shift the products quickly, they will take them down local pub and sell them for a knocked-off, knocked-down, half the retail price.
Additionally, at present, it appears that online crime isn’t being treated as seriously as other crimes - and there is a view that the punishment appears not to fit the crime. This is an opinion supported by Andrew McClelland of Interactive Media in Retail Group who says: “if you're committing a crime online then there is a high probability that you'll get away with it.“
So the key to online security is to stop the crime before it happens - if at all possible. The majority of fraud comes through fake emails but with a bit of help you can spot these reasonably easily. For example the PayPal website says: “usually, a 'phishing' email will have a fake story from a seemingly plausible source, that’s designed to lure you into clicking a link or button in the email or calling a phone number. The sender is trying to steal your identity by tricking you into revealing your password or other personal information.”
PayPal suggest two steps that you can take to make yourself more secure when online. If you're not sure if an email is fake you should do the following:
- simply click 'Forward' and send it to spoof@paypal.com : don’t change the subject line or anything else: then once you’ve sent it, delete the email
- upgrade your browser with anti-phishing features: it won’t take long and provides you with the most up to date security.
Some may think "phishing" is something you do sitting down by the lake with rotting maggots in an old 'baccy' tin but Wikipedia provides an alternative, more accurate definition of this online aberrant and criminal behaviour:
"Phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. EBay, PayPal and online banks are common targets. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging, and often directs users to enter details at a website, although phone contact has also been used. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users".
As accredited Actinic ecommerce web designers - here in EASIserv.com Towers we take our responsibilities very seriously and it is important that we continue to give the best advice to our clients and enable them to have secure and successful sites. We help all our clients through taking the simple precautions detailed above and now is a great time for businesses to create an online store as internet retail continues to grow:
This is an opinion supported by Robert Barker, Chief Operating Officer at Maximiles who says:
“Overall customer satisfaction with shopping online remains strong. The recent negative publicity on consumer data security, due in part to the likes of the HMRC data loss, has no doubt played a role in increased e-customer concerns over online security. Whilst the small falls demonstrate that there are still improvements to be made by e-retailers, the industry is starting to reach a level of maturity that makes it perfectly poised for continued growth in 2008.”
For more information on EASIserv.com e-commerce packages please contact us. It's not quite as easy as shooting "phish" in a barrel - but it's not far off!
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