We often imagine online fraud to originate from a sophisticated source, typically a glass boardroom filled with the latest hardware occupied by an international team of hackers, coordinating a complex web of intricate schemes to gain access to your information and millions of Dollars.
In reality, it can simply be a bored teenager, locked in their bedroom, defrauding unsuspecting online users.
This was a recent case where a 17-year-old UK schoolboy set up a fake website to harvest the credit card numbers and PayPal account details from dozens of victims.
The website was set-up to be a copy of a well-known online service that sells gift vouchers. In order to rank on the first page of Google he took out paid advertising with the search engine giant, making his fake site appear above the genuine site in the search results.
The duped consumers gave him access to over 120,000 credit card numbers and 197 PayPal accounts. He then used the stolen money to buy Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, which soared in value totalling over £2,000,000.00.
The boy, who is now 17 and studying for his A levels, admitted to the charge of money laundering, with the judge ordering that his assets be confiscated, which amounted to the value of his fraud. It was added that if he was an adult he would be serving time.
What can be learnt besides Bitcoin, potentially, being a valuable investment?
You need to ensure your business is taking proactive steps to mitigate the risk of doing business online.
It is no secret that the tactics used by cyber-criminals are constantly evolving and almost impossible to prevent. However, there are solutions available to equip businesses with the tools to identify potential fraud or sites that wish to abuse their brand online so that they can take rapid action to remove such activities. These solutions should be used in collaboration with consumer awareness so that businesses educate their customers about online fraud and how they can take steps to avoid falling victim to such crimes.
When it comes to protecting your brand online, you need to act fast to limit the damage fraudsters can cause. At Lexsynergy we help to protect our clients online by offering a watch service that monitors infringements targeting your trade mark, ensuring swift advice and takedown services that will reduce the damage the infringement does to your brand. Once it is taken down it must stay down.
If you would like more information about the services that we offer reach out to our brand protection team – [email protected]