FraudBlog

Increasing Consumer Confidence in a Website to Increase Sales

fraudpractice — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:06:06 +0000

When it comes to gaining new customers and converting sales, there are several features and signals that a website can include make potential buyers more comfortable with purchasing from a website or brand they may not be familiar with or have never purchased from before. From upfront company and return policies to a social media presence, there are several types of messaging that can say a lot about an online business.

LivingSocial Data Breach Comprises Information of 50 Million Users

fraudpractice — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:01:41 +0000

Daily deal website LivingSocial suffered a data breach compromising emails, passwords and more information for most of the site’s users resulting in the site requiring user’s to reset their passwords.

Responsive Design can Increase Conversion on Mobile Devices

fraudpractice — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:46:33 +0000

Many retailers and websites have mobile-optimized sites, desktop sites and redirects to pages designed for a certain device or screen size. But more recently the concept of responsive design, determining the device and screen resolution that is being used to access a site and optimizing the layout and navigation accordingly, has been growing as a popular and widely used alternative with a recent case study highlighting positive effects on sales conversion.

Establishing Trust Online: Trust and Security Seals Around the World

fraudpractice — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:23:47 +0000

In today’s online environment with breaches, hacks, data compromises, credit card theft and fraud, conveying to a site visitor that your website is safe and secure is important for building trust, closing sales and making new customers. An effective way of accomplishing this is through third party verification with a security or trust seal, and there are many different organizations that offer this in North America and other world regions. However, trust seals and security seals are not the same, and different ones may be more or less recognized in different countries and regions.

Most Businesses Realize Mobile Conversion Rates Below 1%

fraudpractice — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:49:42 +0000

A recent survey and report from Adobe found that a significant number of business do not have a mobile app or mobile-optimized site while 57 percent of companies reported average conversion rates of less than 1 percent for mobile users.

New Cybersecurity Law Requires Government Agencies Seek Approval for Chinese IT Purchases

fraudpractice — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:07:42 +0000

A recently signed appropriations bill contained an additional provision that several government agencies will need to get approval from law enforcement officials prior to purchasing IT products from suppliers that are from or have any connections with China. The U.S.-China Business Council has criticized the law saying that it unfairly targets Chinese firms and will cause the U.S. to lose out on foreign investment.

Increase in Targeted Attacks Against Small Businesses

fraudpractice — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:07:14 +0000

A recent study and report from Symantec found that targeted attacks against small businesses greatly increased in 2012 as cyberattacks increased by 42 percent overall leading to more data compromises and breaches.

Senate Budget Resolution Includes Provisions for Collecting Online Sales Tax

fraudpractice — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:40:38 +0000

Government leaders claim that the lack of authority for collecting sales tax with many online purchases costs the U.S billions each year, and to address this issue the United States Senate included a measure allowing state and local governments to collect sales tax directly from online purchases as part of their budget resolution.

Bills Related to Geolocation and Online Privacy Being Considered by U.S. House and Congress

fraudpractice — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:47:21 +0000

As mobile devices and other technology utilize location-based data and maintain more detailed records than ever before, pre-existing laws and regulations may not properly govern how to treat this data as it was not foreseen at the time of writing, and as a result new privacy issues arise. The U.S. is considering two separate bills that address these modern privacy concerns related to geolocation and online forms of communication.

Press Release: Mobile Survey 2012 Reveals Different Developments and Perspectives Related to Mobile Payments and Fraud

fraudpractice — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:28:51 +0000

The mobile channel is booming and reaching a tipping point. Mobile online commerce has enjoyed triple digit growth rates for consecutive years while mobile wallets are gaining traction for payments at the point-of-sale. On December 9, 2012 eBay recorded their largest mobile shopping day ever as eBay purchases made via mobile devices grew 133 percent from their largest mobile shopping day of 2011. The second Sunday in December is a major holiday shopping day, and PayPal’s mobile payment volume on this day was 221 percent higher than the second Sunday of December in 2011 while the number of consumer’s using PayPal Mobile increased 204 percent on this day in 2012. With mobile commerce volumes growing at such rapid rates it is evident that many more merchants were equipped to accept payments made via mobile devices in 2012, but this is primarily larger merchants as the Mobile Survey 2012, conducted by Kount, The Fraud Practice and CardNotPresent.com , reveals that many SMB merchants are planning support for mobile developments for 2013 but don’t support it currently. While there seemed to be universal agreement that mobile is important and is only going to get bigger, there was not universal agreement on the fraud risk associated with the channel. In fact, the survey indicates that many merchants may not be sufficiently prepared for mobile commerce fraud risks.