As more people start shopping online, and with a bumper online season predicted, it doesn’t pay to not have safeguards warns Sarel Lamprecht, MD of cyber-insurance company Phishield.
2016 is slowly winding down, and everyone is gearing up for a well-deserved break. That means they are clearing their desks off, and furiously shopping.
For many, a quick online purchase instead of traipsing from shop-to-shop is the way to go. And the more unscrupulous shoppers will think nothing of ripping people off to fill stockings.
The festive season shopping spree started on 25 November, with #BlackFriday, and gets increasingly mad from there, especially when people realise they have left shopping to the last minute. This is when controls slip, and deals are not double checked.
According to We Are Social, there are almost 30-million Internet users in SA. And that’s a huge potential market. While many of these people only go online to Facebook, shopping online is a growing trend. According to i-Pay – an online payments system – local ecommerce looks set for its best quarter yet. Co-founder and CEO Thomas Pays recently said that i-Pay is set to double its transaction volumes over November and December this year.
However, most online transactions take place via a credit card. The risk to consumers of entering their credit card details into a dodgy website have been well documented. Less documented, however, is the risk that online retailers take.
They could, for example, unwittingly be accepting payment from a stolen card. Google cc dump and you’ll find 16-million records, many of which will sell full credit card details, including the CCV code. And as quickly as these scammers can be found and shut down, they pop back up again with a new website.
What happens when a customer complains that they did not use their card for that?
In South Africa, the typical reaction from a bank is to ask the client to send proof they have the card, and lodge a dispute. The bank will then investigate, which could take some time. However, generally, if the customer has not fallen prey to fraud, the cash will be reversed – leaving the retailer out of pocket.
This, luckily, is where cyber insurance comes in. Cyber insurance offers superior protection against any criminals, and is vital for online retailers and shoppers alike.
