CYBERCRIME

Should You Combat Cybercrime?


Online fraudsters are having a field day. Retail experts share 5 insider tips on how to beat them at their own game

the rise of online shopping and mobile transactions comes with a dark side: the exponential growth of cybercrime. The Internet has unleashed a lucrative landscape for fraudsters to swindle both retailers and their customers—and they’re getting better at it every year.


The e-commerce era has birthed e-fencing, for one. That’s when fraudsters steal merchandise or gift cards from retailers, only to resell them on legitimate third-party websites, like eBay. According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Organized Retail Crime Survey, 59.7% of retailers have identified or recovered stolen merchandise and gift cards from an “e-fencing” location.


And, during the holiday shopping season, when merchants generate a disproportionate chunk of their annual sales, cyber attacks soared 100% from the prior year, according to the Cybercrime Report from ThreatMetrix, which helps companies prevent online fraud.


Here’s how optical retailers selling their wares both in-store and online can protect their businesses—and customers—from digital fraudsters.


TIP #1: Know Thy Shoppers’ Digital Footsteps


Shoppers’ increasing online and mobile transactions have generated massive streams of consumer data and, along with them, escalating identity theft.


To protect consumers, who are increasingly shopping from multiple devices, retailers must procure a holistic view of each consumer to counter fraudulent account creations and account takeovers. The idea is to capture their “unique digital footprint” and buying patterns in real time to distinguish between the real shopper and potential fraudsters, says Vince Lau, senior product marketing manager for ThreatMetrix, during a webinar. ThreatMetrix’s Digital Identity Network, for example, is designed to do just that.



TIP #2: Enlist Your Customers to Suss Out Scams


Make your customers your allies in fighting fraudulent activities, says Akino Chikada, senior brand protection product marketing manager for MarkMonitor, which provides brand-safeguarding services. For one, “set up an email inbox so that customers can easily forward you any phishing activities or fraudulent scams,” she says.


Consider launching a customer-education program that provides insider information on the latest scams and tactics fraudsters are leveraging, Chikada says. This way “your customers know what they should look out for.”


TIP #3: Fight E-Fencing by Scanning Online Marketplaces for Your Product


Retailers who have experienced a theft should make it a practice to troll legitimate online marketplaces, like eBay and other “you-sell sites,” to look for suspiciously high volumes of their product, says Robert Moraca, vice president of loss prevention for the NRF. Then work with the “you-sell” companies and involve law enforcement to help reclaim the merchandise, he says.



TIP #4: Mark Your Merchandise


Make a mark. “Retailers are testing hidden material markers and hidden electronic marking technology”—from a one-of-a-kind thread woven into a garment to a biometric dot the size of a pin—that prove a specific item offered by such a site is indeed theirs, Moraca says.



TIP #5: Call on the Experts


Tap the resource of 40-plus organized retail crime associations (ORCs), such as the NRF’s Investigator’s Network Committee, to help combat online fraud. It’s where “law enforcement at every level and retail investigators network together to share criminal intelligence about cybercrime and other loss prevention issues that target retailers,” Moraca says.


—Barbara Thau