Beware of Fraudulent Shopping Websites
Counterfeit websites used to steal customers' cash and credit card details are still big business today. The Metropolitan Police have already closed down over 1,200 of these websites.
The sites could be lookalikes which are made to resemble genuine websites or may act as their own company selling branded products online. The problem is these products they sell are either fake or just non-existent.
Even with the polices effort to close down these websites the trend is still enormous. Charlie Abrahams at MarkMonitor says that at any one time there will be literally thousands of phony websites for any major brand. One problem lies in the fact that the perpetrators operate from almost any country in the world which makes it impossible to catch them.
Attempts are being made to stop these dodgy sites from the servers and search engines and to make virus checkers spot the threats and notify users before hand. However even these methods are not fool proof and as of yet the best solution to the problem is making Internet users more vigilant.
Among the advice given to Internet users is:
The sites could be lookalikes which are made to resemble genuine websites or may act as their own company selling branded products online. The problem is these products they sell are either fake or just non-existent.
Even with the polices effort to close down these websites the trend is still enormous. Charlie Abrahams at MarkMonitor says that at any one time there will be literally thousands of phony websites for any major brand. One problem lies in the fact that the perpetrators operate from almost any country in the world which makes it impossible to catch them.
Attempts are being made to stop these dodgy sites from the servers and search engines and to make virus checkers spot the threats and notify users before hand. However even these methods are not fool proof and as of yet the best solution to the problem is making Internet users more vigilant.
Among the advice given to Internet users is:
- Research any websites you might use to buy from
- Check contacts of email adverts
- Look for the yellow padlock symbol when buying
- Use a dedicated credit cart for quick cancellations if anything goes wrong
- Report any problems immediately to trading standards or police
- See if the site has a feedback option or land line to enquire if the site is safe
- Check bank statements regularly
- Be wary of suspicious looking sites
In the end the best thing is to use common sense and if something seems too good to be true then chances are it probably is.
Source: Working Lunch, BBC.
Beware of Fraudulent Shopping Websites
Labels: crime, e-commerce, fake, fraud, online, security, shopping
