Evolution Of Credit Card Fraud Within The Growing E Commerce Industry

In 2014, there were an estimated 2.3 million cases, a twenty-two percent increase from the previous year (Andrews, 2016). According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft complaints have also increased by more than 47 percent since 2014 and it was the second most reported crime after illegal debt collection. (“FTC Releases Annual Summary of Consumer Complaints Debt Collection, Identity Theft, and Imposter Scams Remain Top Categories of Complaints Received by FTC in 2015”, 2016) “The 2017 Identity Fraud Study, released by Javelin Strategy & Research, found that $16 billion was stolen from 15.4 million U.S. consumers in 2016, compared with $15.3 billion and 13.1 million victims in 2015. In the past six years identity thieves have stolen over $107 billion.” (“Identity Theft and Cybercrime”,

card fraud. In reference to money Laundering we will the complex process of how criminals

An unauthorized and highly sophisticated malware that not been encountered previously by any security company attacked the point-of-sale systems where all the card information is stored. The outcome of this hacking been extensive and affected millions of customer’s personal and payment data was exposed, results in the payment card compromise of three million customers.

In January 2007, TJX Companies Inc. released a statement to the press that an estimated 40 million of their customer’s credit card accounts had been compromised (although final reports state that over 94 million accounts were affected) (Berg 2008). Through the company’s POS (Point of Sales) system, credit card information was stolen by a ring of hackers and approximately $4.5 billion spent on these cards (Berg 2008). What the hackers did was intercepted the credit card information from customers who swiped their cards at the store and then created their own physical cards using this information. Then they sold the credit cards to people, who turned around and used these cards at retail stores, like Walmart (Agrawal 2011). Three areas of weakness within the company’s IT systems that allowed for an attack of this scale were: inadequate wireless security, improper storage of customer data and failure to encrypt customer account data (Berg 2008).

The major retailer Target had an online security breach in 2013, which resulted in a loss on $3.2 million dollars in a single day. Almost 4 million credit card and debit card information were compromised Hackers infiltrated(DdoS) the servers of the online store during peak shopping time and implemented several bots to mislead customers to put their credit card information into a wrong location. Within hours all the information was recorded and this led to the biggest credit card fraudulence in recent times. What to take away from this incident? Not even the major corporations are safe from cyber attacks and lack better cyber security. Retailers’ revenue lost to online fraud increased over the past two years to reach an estimated $3.5 billion, an up of 3% from $3.4 billion in 2011(Cybersource 2013). A pie chart below demonstrates the distributions of the targets due in cyber

“Every year for the past 15 years, the Federal Trade Commission has ranked identity theft as the top consumer complaint” (Buck 1). These consumers want

In December 2013, Target announced that massive amounts of credit and debit card information they collected over the years might be in the danger of theft. The credit card breach could affect as many as 70 million customers who swept cards in the retail stores or linked their cards with the membership card, the RedCard. Each card information contains a card number, holder’s name, address, phone number and etc. The more information the thieves got, the more conveniently the thieves could use them to get benefits from the card holders. Jia Lynn Yang and Amrita Jayakumar, the authors of “Target says up to 70 million more customers were hit by December data breach”, write about how bad people will use customers’ information to crime. These thieves possibly shop online by inserting the card information. They could also contact with the victims to gather more sensitive information, and even hack into their computers. This event forces us to seriously consider the crisis in how retails protect customers’ data (Yang &

When online commerce first emerged, many consumers were wary of supplying their credit cards and giving their personal information to online stores. This led to the development of websites such as Paypal, which restricts the access a retailer has to one’s credit card number (Einstein). The threat of fraud has always been a worry for online consumers, but consumers face the same threats when shopping in a brick and mortar store (Chadwick).

1 Peter 5:8 (New King James Version), “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”: resonates throughout Mrs. Hefner’s being due to recent events of fraudulent withdrawals on her debit card. On August 6, 2015, she became considerably alarmed with her inability to disburse funds for her repast at Fried Green Tomatoes in Montgomery, Alabama since the declining of the transaction. Thus, immediately she telephoned Max Federal Credit Union to query on what episodes emerged to trigger this calamitous and problematic quandary. After devoting two consecutive hours on the phone waiting patiently on an attendant to answer, the credit union representative informed her that there were fraudulent charges in the amount of $300 in less than a week’s time. Nevertheless, the advances in technology are advantageous but detrimental to our financial wellbeing. This paper will examine how technology has changed the methods of theft and compare the disparity that prevails amongst the conventional thief and contemporary.

Sparkes, M. (2014, May 21). eBay hack puts millions at risk of identity theft. The Telegraph. Retrieved on March 1, 2016 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

With the rise in the need for the convenience of online shopping and bill pay, identity theft has become a more prevalent issue around the world. Identity theft is a type of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud of deception, typically for economic gain (Identity Theft). In 2009, approximately 13.9 million Americans were victims of some form of identity theft (Theoharis). Studies have shown that one out of every 20 consumers will fall victim to identity crimes this year (Theoharis). Death and taxes have always been a certain part of life, but with the rise of online shopping identity theft has become almost as

In a post-crash market, financial firms face many challenges which include more severe regulations, more demanding consumers, and how to take advantage of new technology. Financial crime costs an estimated $20 billion in losses annually, and the operational costs of compliance continue to grow substantially each year. Due to the complexity of financial services, detecting and preventing fraud within the financial world is nearly impossible. The threats can be either domestic or international and they may originate internally or externally. “Perhaps the most disturbing statistic in the 2010 ACFE study is the one showing that only 6.7 percent of fraudsters had previous convictions for a fraud-related offense, and 7.7 percent had charges with no conviction, which means that 85.6 percent of the frauds were committed by persons who had never been charged with or convicted of a

Credit card fraud transpires daily and in a variety of ways. Often times the consumer that has been a victim of credit card fraud is unaware until they notice the fraudulent charges for purchases they never made. Thieves obtain credit card information in a number of way, data breaches, compromised card information, a dishonest employee at a restaurant or retails store, by a fraudulent website, by giving out credit card information to someone over phone with malice intent.

Fraud is defined by Oxford English Dictionary as “the use of false representations to obtain an unjust advantage or to injure the rights or interests of another” (OED, 1956). Computers are an advanced aid for fraudsters to commit the act from great distances with the use of online resources. However, people can now use smartphones, ATM’s, credit/debit cards and emails, to commit fraud, thus, allowing easy access for individuals to perpetrate fraud or be exploited by it.

E-commerce is one of the grandest trademarks of the 21st century. By allowing anyone with a credit card to purchase any product - at any time - at the click of a mouse, e-commerce has opened a world full of opportunities for the small business owner and the shopaholic. But e-commerce is not without its apparent flaws. It has the advantage of speed, a variety of products, and a great start up for e-commerce businesses, but product quality, bad businesses, and hackers are its main foibles.