Online payment fraud
continues to be a huge problem worldwide. Criminal syndicates use new tactics
to lure and deceive users into falling for their fraudulent schemes on the Web.
If you know how payment fraud works this year, then you'll have a better chance
to spot and avoid them. So, here are a few facts to have you started:
- Online Payment Fraud - Facts & Figures
Credit card theft remains as
the biggest form of online payment fraud. In the USA, experts claim that there
will be a 30% growth in losses to credit card theft from 2014 to 2018. This is
estimated at $8 billion in 2014 to over $19 billion in 2018.
Online payment fraud is also
perpetuated by criminal syndicates around the world through phishing scams,
fake services, rogue products and extortion schemes on the Web. The FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation) continues to send warnings to users in the
USA about the latest extortion schemes in popular online dating sites and apps.
ActionFraud, the UK's national online crime reporting center, also continues to
send out reminders to users in the UK about these online dating scams.
A wide variety of schemes to conduct online payment fraud has also reached the global mobile industry.
Analysts claim that more than half of all mobile users worldwide has been
victimized by online scams and Web crimes. Many of these schemes are designed
to steal financial information and other forms of online payment fraud.
- How Online Payment Fraud is Carried Out
Criminal syndicates use
stolen financial information to conduct their other illegal operations on the
Web and offline. Many of these scammers use stolen credit cards and hacked bank
accounts to buy and sell prohibited products in the Deep Web, such as illegal
porn, drugs and firearms. Unsuspecting victims of online payment fraud are left
holding the bag when authorities come sniffing around.
Financial information theft
is mainly done on the Internet this 2016 through phishing scams and extortion
schemes. Some criminals also lure users into buying fake services and rogue
products.
A phishing scam is where an
unsuspecting user is tricked into giving away their account credentials and
personal details through a fake website. Many scammers use hacked accounts to
send out deceptive messages with links that take users to fake websites.
These messages trick users
into thinking that they need to log into their accounts so as to update their
personal profiles. When users click links in these messages, they are taken to
websites that look exactly like their legitimate online banking portals, Web
mail platforms, social networks and online shopping sites. When they enter
their account credentials into these fake websites, these details are logged
and stolen by the criminal syndicates that operate these sites. This stolen
information is then used by these criminals for their other illegal activities,
online payment fraud and money laundering operations.
Many extortion schemes are
performed by criminal syndicates in popular dating sites and apps. They target
married middle-aged men and women for these scams. When they engage in intimate
conversations with these users, they then scare users by telling them that
their private conversations will be published all over the Internet and also
sent out to their spouses and children. They ask users to pay a hefty fee to
prevent this.
Another form of online
payment fraud is done through ransomware campaigns. This is where devices of
users are frozen by malicious applications that are covertly installed in the
user's device. Messages are then displayed, forcing the user to call a number
and pay a service fee to fix the problem. This scam can also be done through
the distribution of rogue products like fake anti-malware applications.
Now that you know how online
payment fraud is done this 2016, then you can come up with methods and tactics
on how to spot and avoid these Web scams. Tell your friends and colleagues
about these ideas, so you can also help them avoid being victimized by these
criminal syndicates.
