Christmas is just a few weeks away and everyone is buying gifts for some. The popularity of online buying has opened opportunities for fraudsters to steal from us.
When the time comes close to our favorite holiday, not only we but the businesses also hear the jingle bell. There are so many things to spend money on this holiday. Traveling, decoration, gifts, and whatnot. This holiday generates more than $400 billion alone in the USA. This large amount of money attracts fraudsters to take some benefit out of this.
Just like we are preparing our house with lights and Christmas trees, fraudsters are also preparing themselves. Ever since the pandemic, cyberattacks on business online platforms are rising. According to an FBI report, there has been a 300% increase in cybercrime after the COVID pandemic.
This is a matter of concern for businesses and it requires the utmost attention to protect yourself from a financial disaster. With the increasing cybercrime attack, businesses need solutions to tackle these Christmas scams.
Christmas Scam
The popularity of e-commerce is increasing rapidly. People are purchasing more items online than in stores. In the USA, more than 50% of people prefer to buy online than in-store. Businesses have also been active on different social media platforms to advertise their product and engage their customers. People are happy to share their personal information online to get better deals from businesses.
One of the most common Christmas scams is identity theft where the scammer steals your personal information. Scammers get access and use your personal data like name and contact for notorious purposes. Businesses get trapped by these fraudsters who use customer data to purchase items.
Just like the public is targeted for scams, businesses are also not safe. Hacking, account takeover fraud, and much more are the threats that businesses face. It requires their attention to make a solution to overcome this issue. Following are some of the ways a business can protect itself from these scams.
Know Your Customer
Know Your Customer (KYC) verification is a process of verifying your customer while onboarding him/her. It is essential for online businesses to verify each customer that enters and purchases items from their platform. The verification of customers allows businesses to understand if the customer is authentic or a threat to a business.
KYC verification is done by using document verification which uses an artificial intelligence algorithm. The algorithm helps identify if the customer is providing authentic or fake documents.
The customer verification is also done by address verification in which the system verifies the address information provided by the customer. The algorithm identifies and verifies the presence of customers through document verification. This allows businesses to understand if the customer is providing the right information for delivery.
Some businesses are sensitive in nature and require verification at great length. Businesses applications like finance and banking do not want to take any risk of being attacked by a fraud. This is why this application uses face verification which is a great tool to prevent fraud and identify the customer.
Monitor Transactions
ATO fraud in banking applications is a very serious concern. A hacker accesses the account of an individual and transfers all of his money to his account. It is important to monitor transactions by knowing your transaction process which allows you to verify transactions. Know your transaction and verify if the transaction is being done by the legitimate owner of the account.
For online businesses, it is important to understand if the customer is providing the right debit/credit card information. Verifying if the transaction is done by the legitimate owner of the account is important to protect yourself from fraud.
Know Your Business
In the time of Christmas when the sales are sky-high, businesses must prepare themself to meet the customer demands. Businesses take help from other businesses by becoming partners.
In this time, businesses face many scams offering better deals to them. In Fact, they receive products at half price. This may sound good for business but it can also be a scam and you can end up getting nothing and all your investment is lost. Know Your Business verification allows you to understand if the business intermediaries you are contacting are legitimate. It makes sure that they are authentic businesses and not a scam to loot them.
Train Your Employees
In order to protect and prevent your business from cybercrimes, your employees must detect fraud before it occurs. It will be difficult to protect your business from fraudsters if your employees are not trained.
Organizations must hold a training program or a session to guide their employees about the type of scams they could face and how they can protect the business if something like this happens. Employees must acknowledge the danger of this crime and take the training seriously.
Have a Merry Christmas
We are just a few weeks away from a holiday that brings joy to this world. Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and Christmas snow are what we all need to forget the hard time we went through this year. These days when many of us will be buying gifts for our loved ones, fraudsters are also ready to ruin our festival. Online businesses must take all precautions to save themself and us from these scams so that we can all have a Merry Christmas.
Author Bio
I’m James Watson and I am a contributor and technical content writer. I have written some articles for my readers which include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cyber Security, Fintech, Crypto, Finance and Business, etc.
