Be safe shopping
online this Christmas
25.11.20
AN Garda Síochána wish to
support Europol in a Europe wide campaign to promote
safe online shopping during the Christmas season. From
the 1st January until 31st October 2020, 489 online
shopping frauds were been reported to Gardaí. The
average loss was €2,306 per incident, representing an
overall loss to consumers of €1,127,972.
The business community are frequently targeted by
fraudsters using stolen or compromised credit cards,
bank accounts or payments, in what is called Card Not
Present Fraud. Businesses who are victims of this fraud
will suffer losses under the ‘charge back’ process.
In the first 10 months of 2020, 346 Card Not Present
Frauds were reported to Gardaí. The average loss was
€1,083, representing a total of €374,751.
As we enter this busy season, consumers are advised to
follow the golden rules for online shopping:
1. Buy from trusted sources
2. Understand risk and think twice before purchasing
3. Check the seller’s reviews and ratings
4. Ensure data transfer is secure
5. Save all documents related to online purchases
6. If you don’t make a purchase, don’t leave identity or
card details behind
7. Check the website payment security
8. Never send card details by email, text or other
messaging methods
9. Don’t send money to someone you don’t know – check
first
10. Use credit cards when purchasing online |
Consumers online
shopping fraud examples
A 69-year-old male from Co. Laois purchased a JCB online
for €15,000. The JCB was not delivered as requested. A
website had been set up to advertise machinery from a
fake company.
A 24-year-old female from Kerry purchased two tickets
via Facebook. Money was transferred online through AIB
online, directly to the account of the seller. The two
concert tickets have not been received and the seller
can’t be contacted. Fake identity used to open the bank
account.
A 52-year-old female from Leitrim was buying a present
for a child and found a Playstation Pro 4 on an online
trading forum. She engaged with the seller through the
messaging app on the forum and transferred €240 to a
bank account. The Playstation never arrived and the
seller has gone offline and will not reply to messages.
Business Card Not Present Fraud examples
A bank account was compromised and the account details
were used to book an overnight stay in a hotel in Galway
to the value of €342.00. The holder of the account was
refunded by the bank. This cost may be placed with the
hotel, who accepted the account details, in the charge
back process.
A female was informed by her bank that a fraudulent
transaction had occurred on her debit card for €70.00 at
a business premises. Her card number, expiry date and
security number had been identified by a fraudster. The
bank or the business will suffer this loss.
An online gift company identified a transaction to the
value of €3,008 and became suspicious. Having carried
out checks, the company stopped the transaction and
returned the money to the bank. No loss was suffered. |
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