Factors Contributing to Frauds in E-Commerce, Relation between Technological Advancement and e-Frauds - Literature review Example

University of Portsmouth Fraud in E-commerce Research Project Word count: Approx. 5045 Contents Section A: 2 Critical Review of Academic Research 2 Overview 2 Literature Review 3 E-Commerce and Types of Frauds 4 Factors Contributing to Frauds in E-Commerce 8 Relation between Technological Advancement and e-Frauds 11 Prevention Strategies 13 Conclusion 15 References 18 Section A: Critical Review of Academic Research Overview The Internet has altered the course of doing business, buying and selling and the ways in which some businesses interact with other business partners and consumer. Many companies have lately focused their attention on Electronic Business which yields multiple benefits for them. E-business or E-commerce is carried out in Business to Business or Business to Consumer activities. Companies, now, fear that being oblivious to Internet usage can pose threat to their existence in today’s advance world where number of consumers using internet for shopping purposes is increasing day by day [Rut03]. E-commerce provides opportunity to cover larger geographical area and decrease the cost of physical distribution. Moreover, it helps in enabling the companies to execute customer focused strategies and bring convenience for them. Despite the fact that E-commerce provides the businesses with multi-dimensional advantages, it also renders them vulnerable to fraudulent activities. The advanced technology, where on one hand, has carved out numerous positive impacts on businesses and their consumers, on the other hand it has created ease for fraudsters to carry out their malicious agendas [Fer13]. This study will explore the factors due to which certain illegal activities are performed and the motivation behind them. In addition to that, it will find out the ways in which technology has contributed or restricted these activities. In the end, some recommendations would also be made to provide the businesses with abilities to prevent or minimize the risks of e-frauds. It is essential because knowingly or unknowingly some businesses become a victim of frauds which harms their reputation in return [Jam11]. There are expectations that the number of consumers preferring to shop through internet would increase and hence, there is a growing need that businesses effectively analyze if their online venture is adequately secured. This would not only protect their repute and business but also keep the faith of their customers intact. It is a fact that eliminating the risks of fraud altogether may not be possible but through well-calculated measures and proper scrutiny of ongoing processes on internet such risks can surely be reduced to a significant level. There has been conducted a lot of academic researches on this topic but hardly any data could be found which provides deep insight into the biological, psychological and socio-economic factors behind these frauds [Bau06]. So, this research would furnish an account of these factors and how the technological advancement is creating an impact on this problem. Alongwith that, it will shed light on the victims and the reason behind their vulnerabilities. It would be exploratory study rather than descriptive which would analyze the whole problem and build arguments and conclusions through proper evidence from the already available secondary data. This study aims at giving a well-researched critical analysis of previous researches and presenting a new perspective to look towards the issue. It would help the businesses in diverting attention towards the emerging need of employing fraud management tools and minimize the risk of customer victimization and their own financial losses. Literature Review The increasing importance of internet in business world for both businesses and consumers has made it essential to explore the potential threats and risks linked to its use. This study has been furnished in order to find out answers to some core questions which are following: What are the specific factors leading to e-commerce fraud? In what ways the new technologies facilitate or inhibit the problem? In addition to that, it quests to enquire into the possible remedies of this problem in order to make businesses able to deal with it effectively and efficiently. E-Commerce and Types of Frauds E-commerce is a business activity involving buying and selling of products and services through internet [KCL]. It can be called digital buying and selling. It has emerged as an imperative rather than an alternative for business companies due to the fact that it makes the transactions speedy and cost effective. It also provides an opportunity to come closer to the customers and extend the geographical reach of the business. It is also viewed as a source of customer satisfaction due to its quick and customized services [Soh04]. Thus, it has become increasingly important part of everyday life both for customers and businesses [Sha14]. The information technology has transformed the ways in which organizations share information, their practices of purchasing, delivering and carrying out financial transactions [Lor12]. E-transactions include requests for information, price inquiry, order placement and payments, and after sale services. It requires consumers to exhibit certain amount of personal information to the seller making them vulnerable. So, a high degree of confidence is required with the help of ensuring confidentiality, timely promised delivery and authenticity [ASe05]. Therefore, only having a website is not enough. The companies need to possess a complete data warehouse to understand their customers in a better way in order to add the value to their offerings. It is also of utmost importance to build and maintain the confidence they have in the company because if they do not find their desired products they would not return to purchase online again [GAd00]. It could possible lead to a decline in their perceived value of the particular brand or product. There are linked many uncertainties to the technology environment which give rise to lack of trust [Rat03]. The trust in technology can be developed through digital signatures, encryption mechanisms, User ID’s and passwords, regular audits, commitment and standard procedures. It prohibits the fake and hoax actions, manipulations and lead to errorless transactions saving both time and cost [PRa03]. Trust in E-commerce means the expectation that technology infrastructure is able to facilitate transactions. Moreover, it is believed that companies will operate in a socially responsible manner despite all the vulnerabilities. The companies need to provide a safeguard to the information which their customers provide them along with certain assurances and guarantees. On the other hand, companies can also get a help from the previous experiences of their customers and put efforts in a right direction. Trust and risk both play important role in influencing the customer-to-customer electronic business for both buyer and seller. Quality of any e-business can be measured by different factors that what type of performance it has, either it provides accurate information to the consumer or it is easy to use, how much aesthetic pleasure it gives, the information is up-to-date or not, whether its information is reliable and one can access it fast, it can protect and safeguard the information, degree of confidence customers has in it, whether it is responsive towards the needs of customers or not, it provides any after-sale services and have any empathetic attitude towards customers. With an advancement in technology, there has emerged many threats to the online businesses and privacy and security has become a major concern. The privacy concerns vary from commerce, electronic health to e-recruitment and social networking. But the much larger risks reside in electronic payments using debit cards, credit cards, PayPal etc. It has become imperative for E-businesses to look for the ways in which they can attract more customers and make them feel secure. Customer education on the security issues is not yet up to the mark. They are mostly unaware of the ways in which they can be tricked by the fraudsters [MNi13]. There are myriad of ways in which e-commerce frauds can be furnished and they emerge in different types. Researches have brought forward these types of frauds in quite a comprehensive manner. Fraud means, the ways in which somebody tries to take advantage of others weaknesses and they are largely influenced by the financial motives. Online frauds are the one which are facilitated by the Internet. When a person buys something from a physical or virtual store the main difference lies in the way of transactions including payment and delivery of product or service. This is where, fraudsters take advantage. One important and most common type of fraud is Payment fraud when fraudsters present a cloned credit/debit card to make a purchase from online stores. While doing so, they use the credit card numbers of somebody else which they have stolen. In this way, firms find it hard to identify whether the order has been made by the authentic source or not. Other type is Online Advertising Fraud. In this type, the customers are deceived by making cloned and counterfeit websites of some real brands and their products are shown there. It is also called spoofing. Sometimes, they are trapped by showing a quality product but they end up finding altogether different product or service from what they offered. A fraudulent behavior includes Internet advertising billing systems in which software is used to make frequent and massive clicks on an advertisement [MNi13]. In addition to that phishing is also frequently used fraud technique. In this, the victims are trapped by posing an authenticated authoring and it appears that e-mail has been sent by a legitimate author to reveal some information and victim need to click a hyperlink. This infects the computer system and the offender steal private information like credit card number, PIN number etc. [Fer13]. Another emerging type of fraud is advanced-fee fraud in which a fake and forged formal letter claims that a heavy amount of money needs to be transferred through a third-party bank account promising certain amount of funds for the victims. They are persuaded that they can get much larger benefits by advancing small sums of money [Cha08]. Moreover, fraudsters may also illegally get an access to systems and data and could also modify it for their vindictive actions. They can change the intended messages and impersonate another user by changing the source or destination’s IP address. This could either be in the form of denial of services, unauthenticated access to confidential information or theft [MAw12]. Denial of service attacks involves spamming and viruses. In spamming, uncalled for commercial emails are send to the individuals reaching to thousands in number. It could also be done by setting software agents on to third party systems and sending requests to the targets. Some viruses are also used for this purpose which carry out unwanted operations on the victim’s system [MNi13]. Most threatening of these is the one through the use of Trojan Horse Program which is launched against systems and they have ability to bypass authentication and authorization architecture in transactions. Apparently it seems that a valid client system has put a particular order request and it is difficult to find out such a fraud attack. There are many such viruses that pose great threat to e-businesses [Ran02]. Internet is most frequently used by banking industry in order to provide its customers a 24 hours access to services, check current account balances or pay bills while sitting at home [Rut03]. However, equal amount of risks are attached to this. Information security becomes all the more essential in banking sector to ensure secure, effective and efficient transactions [Raj10]. Fraudsters mostly find it easy to attack financial transactions with banks. Internet-connected computers become vulnerable to hacking and confidential information can be retrieved with the use of different software and viruses. They can steal email accounts and carry out spamming, phishing or denial of service attacks. This is due to the fact that mostly online banking is inadequately guarded against highly sophisticated fraud techniques. Mostly, only one principle i.e. set of username and password is used for huge transactions which attracts the offenders [WHu09]. Hence, E-commerce comes with both the positive and negative aspects and for any business to get a hold of the ultimate benefits from this it is very essential to understand the factors behind any kind of fraud and address apprehensions of their consumers. Factors Contributing to Frauds in E-Commerce There are multiple factors that facilitate the fraudulent activities and without dissecting them businesses cannot achieve the target of securing the customer’s information and build their confidence in them. At present only a little protection is offered to consumers on the internet and similar is the case in business-to-business communication. But the threat is much larger in B2C transactions online. Hence, consumer trust is of utmost importance to the businesses. The companies carrying out e-business activities undergo a lack of focus towards how it influence their overall business strategy. They give little attention to the strategic implication of their activities and how customer satisfaction, brand awareness and new sales channel can open entirely new ways of achieving [Far01]. The customers are more likely to buy online due to the faster life trends and they want access to more time saving and convenient ways of shopping. Via E-commerce they have to make little efforts and make a purchase whenever they want. Therefore, they consider it a rational option due to which online buying is on a rise [Enr12]. However, delayed or incomplete deliveries, compromised quality of products can be perceived as a deception by the consumers and it can shatter their confidence in the company. The growth in internet companies provides an opportunity for misleading activities as they grow rapidly but are not economically sound[Bak99]. This could provide as a motivation for fraudulent activities. Another important factor is the lack of awareness on the part of consumers. They are usually unaware that they have been victimized and hence, they are less likely to report it to the police. Moreover, the victims are not visible like normal crimes and similarly, the offenders are hard to be identified. This is facilitated by the fact that there is no face to face interaction. There is also no universal concept of fraud and little research has been done in this arena that particularly address the factors of frauds and possible preventions. This is due to the fact that conventional research practices finds it hard to reveal the real nature of frauds through observation, simulation or analysis of statistics. Research has revealed that mostly frauds are committed by company employees, management and third-parties. While the fact that frauds remain largely invisible and are committed by educated and well-informed individuals who know how to conceal their identities thoroughly and take advantage from the ignorance of consumers and companies substantiates financial crimes. Other factors that contribute and facilitate frauds are weak internal controls and high degree of credulity, country’s socio-economic conditions, shortcomings of legal systems and financial motives [Kra02]. The primary reason behind frauds is economic gain which has been reinforced by research [SMc06]. Furthermore, the lack of prudence which investors present provides immeasurable opportunities to commit fraud. A profile of offenders has been explored to know the reasons behind why somebody commits a crime and a fraud. It was found out that mostly males are involved in frauds and mostly the age group between 30-40 years in indulged in these activities. These people carry out normal life functions but they have financial problems second major reason is they had opportunity to commit offense [Kra021]. Furthermore, there are many challenges linked to the regulation of financial frauds that are done through internet. By the time security experts find a way to remove one vulnerability, the fraudsters find another one and the process of deception continues [Fla07]. Trust in e-business is central to the success of customer and business relationship. But as the buyer and seller is physically apart, trust becomes a core issue [AMu07]. Once this trust is lost, consumers may not ever return leaving businesses at much higher risks. Moreover, when an e-fraud occurs it not only results in harming the reputation but it also leads towards costly remedies by the breached organization. The development in technology on one hand has assisted the businesses in creating value for customers and extending their markets and product reach yet on the other hand, equal risks and threats are linked to it. Relation between Technological Advancement and e-Frauds The use of internet has provided the businesses with innumerable benefits and improved the prospects of achieving a competitive advantage in continuously evolving world. It has revolutionized the way in which commercial activities are performed. But, on the other hand it has opened the vistas for criminals to fulfill their vicious motives. They find it easy to commit large-scale offenses with zero cost and less risk of being caught because internet allows them to hide their real identities. As compared, to traditional ways of carrying out financial crimes, online offenders have almost negligible threat of encountering any law enforcement agencies. This is why, there can be seen a huge increase in the internet crimes [Far01]. The emergence of internet companies like eBay, Amazon and PayPal etc. an opportunity can be seen by criminals and it has become easy for them to exploit the users. An abundant amount of consumer information like credit card details, bank account details and other personal information is available on these sites which offenders can bring to their use through hacking and other means [PGr01]. With the help of Junk email or E-mail spam it has become much easier to present personalized messages to intended targets and reach out to their personal information. Through internet, the perpetrators can send online messages to the investors to buy the stock and sell it before prices surge. They themselves sell their shares when the prices are pumped up and once they sell, stop hyping the stock and prices fall down due to which investors lose. There can be seen messages like “make big money from home computer” or “low-risk investment plan” [Bak99]. Furthermore, it has become easy for offenders to commit financial crimes because it is hard to find out who exactly is responsible for the crime and who is the victim, the consumer or the business. Online auction is on the rise and has made it possible for individuals to buy and sell new and used goods via internet. But it is problematic as it not only cause financial losses through the fraudulent placement of orders and forged payments but it also leads towards a loss in reputation of the businesses and there are no easy combating techniques [Con11]. Advancing technology has made the online offenses easy as the offenders are now able to get an access to large-scale consumer data due to oblivious attitude of certain organizations towards a need of data integrity. They are less likely to identify such crimes and fear disclosing them with the exception of few businesses which are diverting attention to secure the confidential information. There are multiple types of worms and software available that can infect the consumer system without their knowledge and steal their personal data [Fer13]. Internet provides better information about product features and that too with little or no expense. This makes it an acceptable medium of purchase but the criteria of providing certain amount of personal information renders it vulnerable [Lui02]. Cyber thieves are mostly highly educated and possess sufficient knowledge of information technology. They keep on changing their fraud schemes increasing its sophistication due to which it becomes difficult to catch them. The situation becomes much more difficult when the criminals are from the company itself and they know everything going on in the firm related to this and they have easy access to customer information. Due to the advanced deception techniques it is important that e-businesses develop befitting security programs to rule out the possibility of online defraud activities. Prevention Strategies The cost of fraud is financial as well as has its own social implications as businesses does not want to disclose fraud cases just because they don’t want to protect their reputation which further makes the situation complex. On the other hand, a proper use of e-commerce can lead to socio-economic development. The use of internet can increase the business activity leading to heavy benefits for the businesses and countries [Ric08]. Therefore, it is essential to prevent such fraudulent activities. In order to protect businesses and customers to fall a victim at hands of fraudsters effective legislations have to be made public and penalties can be increased if they are caught. But, it is very hard to find these scammers because they can easily conceal their true identities. There are three principles of identity verification that can protect user’s access to their personal account or information on internet. The first principle involves owning a username and password. In addition to that unique identities are offered through Social Security Numbers or IDs. But they can easily be accessed by hackers and anyone who has knowledge about it. Second way of identity verification is using some physical form like a smart card. It could also be done by using some biological means like fingerprints, voiceprints, and iris, odor and hand geometry techniques. Biological verification could largely reduce the risk of frauds because it is hard for two persons to be same. Hence, the differences can be easily detected. Thirdly, biometric information can also be used to ensure authenticity but it is very expensive and requires high level of technology and resources [Fos05]. But a well-balanced combination of the three can provide a safer and protected use of cyberspace to the customers. Many different approaches are coming in front to prevent the identity thefts and online frauds. One of these is Situational Prevention Framework according to which such crimes can be reduced is suitable targets are protected appropriately and perpetrators are monitored [Shu11]. By simply examining routine activities like lack of guardianship, suitable targets and prospective offenders many online crimes can be effectively prevented. The companies can also use firewalls, encryption software, digital certificates or digital signatures. In addition to that E-security seals which are signals, symbols or logos that represent credibility and authenticity and build the confidence of the consumers. With the help of it consumers can be made sure that the quality of the product or service would not be compromised or they would not be deceived through financial frauds[Bru09]. The data confidentiality, authentication and access control to consumer information can be fortified with the use of well-crafted strategic view to address the fraud activities. Providing money back guarantees and warranties can also be a good way to enhance the trust of consumer in the seller [BaS02]. Universal payment identification codes which provides e-merchants with opportunity to receive payments without reveling confidential information, IP address locators to find out users’ exact locations from where orders are placed, fraud detection software like purchase device tracing, fraud screens, address verification services etc. can also prove beneficial in minimizing the fraud risks [Fer13]. Finally, it is important to educate consumers about the possible risks and online fraudulent activities [Col98]. Companies need to develop a comprehensive Privacy and Security Policy to enlighten the consumers. In this way, consumer can get to know whether a company would share that information to a third party or not. Consumers must be made aware that which particular information companies need necessarily for order processing and which is simply being used in counterfeit pursuits. It is also of benefit that consumers don’t use personal information while making passwords and stop reusing same password for other sites. Some emails are sent for phishing the targets and require an update of account information for banks, credit cards, online payments etc. and then declare that this account has been expired. In that case, if consumer is naïve and send the related information it can easily be utilized for malign purposes [MNi13]. With the help of these strategies a firm can largely reduce, if not totally eliminate, the risks of frauds and treachery. But no single technique can be identified as one best solution. A firm needs to make use of multiple techniques to meet the aim of developing security architecture. In time fraud detection is a key towards success in bringing the real culprits in front. Conclusion E-commerce is emerging as necessity for today’s fast world where it provides an opportunity to carry out trade using internet while sitting across the miles. An e-business has well-knit system of information and communication technologies. They carry out the functions like sharing information, establishing and maintaining business relations and manage running business transactions online. There are many advantages of e-business like they can reach out to larger geographical area by remaining at one place and don’t have to possess physical infrastructure like shops etc. They also require less staff and can keep track of competitors. On the other hand, customers has no need to travel to get their hands on a product or service. This helps saving their time and cost and brings the products at their doorsteps just on one click. E- Business also provides more information of product characteristics and prices can also be compared easily. However, despite all these benefits the threats and risks of e-business can never be ignored which are on a sharp rise these days. Advancing technology has provided the criminal minds with opportunities to find new ways of committing crimes. Multiple ways in which frauds are done include website cloning, email spam, phishing and getting access to confidential information on victim’s system through viruses and worms. They can place orders at behest of somebody else which can’t be easily verified by the e-firms. Moreover, after utilizing the information they can modify it for their future use. Like this, many other frauds are committed by the defrauders. These frauds are particularly motivated by financial needs. But some other factors also make the work easy for fraudsters like the weak internal control or security infrastructure of the firms, unawareness on the part of consumers regarding the risks involved with online transactions, loopholes in the legal system, lack of strategic view towards e-business, and fear of disclosing such frauds to prevent any blemish on company’s name. Due to advanced technology and their highly sophisticated knowledge cyber criminals can easily hide their identities and hence largely remain invisible. They have to incur no cost and face less risks than the normal street crimes. In addition to that, they lead normal lives generally that nobody could suspect them. Moreover, information technology has made them able to send massive messages to many victims simultaneously which makes them able to lead towards cross-border frauds which are not confined to any geographical boundaries. Trust and reliability is at the heart of online business. There is no person-to-person interaction there which increase the need to establish and maintain high degree of trust in buyer-seller relationship. E-commerce firms survive on the basis of the trust the consumers have in them. Online shoppers buy from a website only when they are sure that there needs would be fulfilled and that it is secure to make a transaction there [Kat09]. There is a need that businesses take an ethical perspective into view while exhibiting online operations[Lis03] . Consumers usually come up with the privacy concerns regarding the data. If e-firms take that into due consideration and address the related problems they can see an enhanced confidence and brand awareness in consumers. By doing so, they can experience long term relationships. There are certain areas which still need a lot of exploration like what should be the quality of websites, who should be held responsible in case of such crime, how the confidential information could be secured in a most appropriate way etc. Alongwith that businesses have little insight into what factors can alter the customer perceptions about a particular business on the internet. Therefore, it is extremely important for business decision makers to be provided with much needed guidelines to develop their online businesses. Businesses need to be very explicit if they want to hold and increase the number of customers. They should be well aware of the fact that what products or services they are promising and then should never sacrifice the consumer trust [Koe03]. It has become critical and imperative for e-firms that they design a thoughtful, effective and responsive security apparatus to fight with the menace of online crimes that heavily costs the companies in terms of finances and reputation. Different preventive strategies that could be used identity verification through security passwords, biometric tools and other physical document verification. Most important protective measure if to monitor the daily activities of firm and identify the prospective victims and possible defrauders. Universal Payment identification codes, e-security seals and electronic logos can also prove to be effective means to overcome risks of fraud. In addition to that, organizations should take steps to minimize internal tampering with the computer systems by the employees. It is essential to define the company’s security and privacy policy and make it public to make the consumers aware and educate them about the possible ways in which fraud attacks are made on them. By taking the consumers in confidence with the offerings like warranties and money back guarantees can prove to be a prudent initiative against possible fraud attacks. In addition to that, it is very essential that e-firms timely address the fraud activities and give no time to defrauders to move towards other schemes. It can only be done with the help of sophisticated tools of fraud detection like distinguishing normal purchase behaviors from risky ones or post-purchase transaction managements. Lastly, businesses need to develop a digital business strategy related to their particular characteristics and should keep themselves up-to-date about changes in technological world. This study has made it evident that e-commerce is extremely important to get access to competitive advantage these days. With the help of efficacious actions risks and threats attached to it can be reduced largely. Only few researches can be found that address the factors behind e-commerce related frauds and this study proves to be a powerful addition and opens new perspectives to intercept them. It not only provided the motivations behind e-frauds and how technological advancement facilitate or prohibit it but also gave an inclusive account of preventive measures that firms can utilize to cut down the fraud activities and reap enormous benefits from e-commerce. 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