Protection against Fraud and Identity Abuse

3.3. Online shopping fraud and identity theft

Fraudsters create fake online stores that offer high-quality products at very low prices. They take payments, but either deliver low-quality products or do not deliver anything at all. Victims lose their money and do not receive any goods.

These fake stores often look deceptively genuine and offer high-quality products at extremely low prices to attract potential buyers. The fraudulent merchants often invest a lot of time and effort to make their fake websites look professional. They use pictures and descriptions of real products to gain buyers' trust.

When a customer places an order and pays for the purchase, the fraudsters receive the money. This is followed by no delivery, or delivery of inferior or fake goods.

In some fraudulent online stores, customers are asked to enter personal information such as credit card details, social security numbers or addresses. This information can subsequently be used by the fraudsters for identity theft and other fraudulent purposes.

There are also known cases where fraudsters have manipulated legitimate online stores, for example, redirects for the payment process are manipulated. Therefore, it is important to check whether a redirect to the correct payment service is made.