Tuesday, December 11, 2007
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 7 // -- With initial figures still rolling in and the peak online shopping days still ahead, 2007 is poised to set more records. Current estimates indicate that online sales will top $30 billion* for the season, and fraud rates will increase by 20 percent**.
To help online shoppers, retailers and financial services providers understand and better combat the cyber crime trends for this holiday season, fraud expert Ori Eisen, founder and chief innovation officer of The 41st Parameter, will appear on Rich Levin's PC Talk radio Tuesday, December 11. The program will be made available at http://www.the41.com/PCtalkradio.
"Most studies show that this year's online shoppers expect their transactions to be protected by banks and online merchants," said Eisen. "This is quite concerning to me, because there are many financial institutions and online merchants who are under prepared for current fraud schemes."
Eisen also raises another important issue: with a huge spike in online sales, industry experts agree there will be a commensurate spike in fraud. One reason why is that cyber crooks know that most fraud won't be detected by the eCommerce sites until 30 or even 45 days after it has occurred when the victim receives their post holiday credit card statements. Adding to these concerns, the latest trends signal an increase in the complexity of scams that elude even savvy consumers and corporate fraud departments. Examples include:
-- Reshipper/Rerouting Schemes -- Taking advantage of the fact that
during the holidays, organizations are more lenient about shipping to
alternate names and addresses, since this is the most common purchase
pattern at this time of year. This opens the door for orders to be
fraudulently redirected via the freight carrier's site to the thieves'
destination of choice.
-- New account creation utilizing stolen info -- once a new account is
established on an online merchant's site, items are purchased to be
shipped as gifts exploiting holiday patterns and leniency so the
mailing address need not match the card holders.
-- Fraudulent Gift Card/Gift Fund purchases -- crooks load gift cards
with funds from the victim's card and shop freely either online or at
the actual store.
To thwart these seasonal kinds of fraud, Eisen will make several recommendations to online shoppers, and also help them understand what banks and retailers are doing behind the scenes to make their shopping experiences safe.
About The 41st Parameter
As a leader in online fraud detection and prevention solutions, The 41st Parameter is instrumental in reducing online fraud for eCommerce and financial institutions through highly accurate anti-fraud capabilities. The Company's patent-pending technologies provide a highly accurate analysis of legitimate and fraudulent transactions, which is made possible by pairing the unique, forensic identification of PCs and online devices with customer-entered information. In addition to identifying and preventing fraud, the Company's products help improve operational efficiencies, saving time, money and protect legitimate customers. None of the Company's solutions require end-user registration, enrollment, downloads or installations. To find out how the Company is making fraud history, visit http://www.the41.com or call 1.888.the.41st (1.888.843.4178).
All brands, names, or trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
*comScore Holiday Shopping Report for 2007: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139903-page,1/article.html
**CyberSource Survey on eCommerce Fraud: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60394.html
Contact:
Dave Yohe
dyohe@the41.com
(480) 776-5518
