Online fraud : Bulwark Your Online Payments From Phishers

Development in the world of Internet has gained a lot of popularity, primarily due to the ease of use and widespread support of supporting technologies. There is no denying to the fact that to some extent the hassle-free living of the people these days is due to the most advanced technological era. Online payments have eased the lives of a common man, such as standing in long queues for money withdrawal is no longer required. But at the same time, the crimes associated with the advent of these technologies have also surged. With an increase in online opportunities, there is an increase in the online fraud types and various other fraudulent techniques done by the fraudsters.

What is online payment?

The Internet is quickly becoming the first stop for people for buying products and services which has further given rise to numerous payment systems over the internet.

Online payment is defined as a transfer of an electronic value of payment from payer to the payee through some kinds of electronic mechanism and generally, the content of this exchange is made through some form of digital financial instruments such as credit card numbers, electronic checks and digital cash. Transactions in remote payment cases in which the consumer and merchant are not interacting face-to-face are also defined as CNP transactions.

This list consists of top frauds that occured in 2018.

According to the USA Department of Justice (DOJ), e-fraud is defined as “a fraud scheme that uses one or more components of the Internet – such as chat rooms, e-mails, message boards, or web sites – to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to the financial institution or to other connected with the scheme”

Common assumptions and reality regarding online payments

Although many people believe that online payments are easy, past records state that many times online payments call for fraud. On one hand, the introduction of online payments or CNP transactions makes it much more attractive and useful for both consumers and businesses. On the other hand, since the authentication of card or cardholder is not possible physically, the possibility of frauds is higher.

In order to understand how online payments are more likely to make a person fall in a trap of fraudsters, let us understand one of the most common online fraud types that occur – Phishing. It won’t be wrong to say that online payment has become a new phishing scammer’s target.

It has been estimated that each year online payment fraud causes loss to billions of dollars. Payment fraud is a serious assault that causes billion dollars loss every year. Furthermore, fraudsters use recently developed techniques and methods for obtaining cardholder’s personal and financial information. Research states that Fraudsters often use stolen account information to reach other accounts.

Phishing is one of the most common techniques used by fraudsters to obtain confidential information of the user and they do this by posing themselves as a trusted authority.  It is a way to collect banking details and other sensitive information through emails that contain attachments or hyperlinks. Therefore it is important to understand what phishing emails are.

The fraudsters send an email in such a way that it appears to be a mail from an authorized organization. Whenever an individual click on an attachment or a hyperlink present in the email, it causes the system to get infected by malware. As a result, whenever a user makes an online transaction, the malware gets activated and steals all the personal information including credit card numbers and pin number. This makes it easy for the fraudsters to carry out any financial transaction. The spammers use professional-looking emails that include logos, graphics, and many other elements. On the other hand, the content of such emails is written in such a way that it confuses, upsets or excites the recipient. As the user many a time doesn’t have an idea about what is phishing emails, it gets easier for the phishers to trick the user.

A phishing attack is not only associated with authentic-looking emails, but it can also be associated with fraudulent web pages. Phishers design web pages visually similar to real web pages in order to spoof readers. These spoofed web pages also include a graphical user interface in order to lure the users to enter their personal information such as username, password, credit card details, and much other sensitive information.

The entire process of online transaction begins with the consumers providing their sensitive personal information which is transmitted over various unsecured networks. Many times, the payment systems are not secure enough to protect and prevent the personal information of an individual from attack or attempts from the fraudsters.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that although online payments have made the lives of people much easier, it is not completely safe. A little lack of attention can make your online transactions unsecured and therefore it is important to understand various online fraud types.

TIKAJ’s Security services will help secure your online transactions.