Cyber-crime: Payment facilitators falling prey to the scammers

Millions of complaints get registered around the world to the cyber-security regarding the cyber-crime. In fact, many fraudulent activities may not even be getting registered to cyber-security.

Today, the e-commerce business gives a high return to the business organization.  These high returns bring high risk to them. E-commerce businesses depend upon electronic transactions so as to charge customers for products purchased and services offered. The magnitude of these electronic transactions is increasing day by day, thereby increasing fraudulent activities.

Payment facilitator companies take the responsibility legally for transferring funds from buyers to sellers. The payment facilitator faces challenges when the firm is smaller or if it is a start-up company. Because these firms don’t have proper technical resources, time, and funds required to get up and running. Payment facilitators while doing transactions for their respective customers often look for the easiest mode for payment transactions and restrict the barrier, which opens the gate to many scammers/fraudsters. Scammers then weave a web for these payment facilitators and attack their database system.

Digital payment frauds are the easiest way. Cybercriminals are very active over the internet as it provides them with the perfect environment and they often have a team. Because consumers and merchants are not interacting face-to-face, they remain anonymous to one another. If the payment processing facility like the process involves making payment initiation and the payment methods of the facilitators are weak it may easily attract the villains to breach their security system and get all the personal, as well as financial data of the customer. Scammers obtain all this information online. When they gain access to the internal systems, scammers may successfully be able to generate files as per the requirement.

Scammers then start sending messages over the phone, e-mail to the respective customers. These messages will appear to customers as if they are being sent by the merchants and customers fall for this trap. 

To further generate more revenues these facilitators develop an app for mobile. The app is used by numerous people and scammers too. Scammers use their app to know about the payment solution by making payments of less or higher value.

Scammers make calls, send emails, text, or send pop-up windows falsely claiming to individuals that their computers have malware or have been infected with viruses. Scammers promise to fix a problem for a charge or offer a download that gives cybercriminals access to their computers and their personal information. At times, cybercriminals also enroll people in long-term computer maintenance plans to protect their computers from problems they have never experienced. Most often, cybercriminals target older people and other demographics that may be less computer savvy.

Chargeback Fraud or Friendly Fraud: Let us say a customer makes an online purchase. Later, they claim that the purchase was made fraudulently and ask for a chargeback – even though they made the purchase themselves.

Merchant fraud: It occurs when someone creates a bogus company with no intention of selling any product to the customer. The business appears legitimate; but since it offers no actual goods or services, all users who make an online purchase only end up losing their money.

CONCLUSION

Risks are always involved in every job so it is in the case of payment facilitators too. While it’s challenging to eliminate the threat of fraud for e-commerce stores entirely, payment facilitator companies can still protect them up to some extent. They can do this by continually updating the network security systems. Firewalls and antivirus software are designed to act as a shield against hackers’. Constantly updating software helps ensure that sensitive business information is safe. 

It is not only payment facilitator’s but our responsibility too to act in a secure way. Today banks therefore warn their customers to not respond to the calls which ask for bank details like account number, credit card/debit card number because banks do not need such data from their customers.

Scammers continue to update their system and fraud technology and become more sophisticated. Payment facilitators have to keep themselves aware of the latest trends in high-risk scams so they can protect themselves. They have to be more vigilant so that they can protect themselves from problems and other digital payment frauds.

TIKAJ’s services will help you stay secure from online frauds.