An Garda Síochána and Europol Promote Safe Online Shopping this Christmas (9/11/20)

An Garda Síochána are supporting Europol in a Europe wide campaign to promote safe online shopping during the Christmas season and beyond from the perspective of consumers and of businesses.

In the period from 1st January 2020 until 31st October 2020, 489 Online Shopping Frauds have been reported to An Garda Síochána. The average loss was €2,306 per incident representing an overall loss to Irish citizens of €1,127,972.

The business community are frequently targeted by fraudsters using stolen or compromised credit cards, bank accounts or payments, in what is called Card Not Present Fraud. Businesses who are victims of this fraud will suffer losses under the ‘charge back’ process.

In the first 10 months of 2020, 346 Card Not Present Frauds have been reported to An Garda Síochána in Ireland 2020 to date, representing an average loss of €1,083 or a total of €374,751.

As we enter this busy season, consumers and business will be particularly active online and An Garda Síochána and Europol advise consumers to follow the golden rules for online shopping.

See below information video on the #BuySafePaySafe campaign promoting safe online shopping.

The Golden Rules

#BuySafePaySafe

1. Buy from trusted sources
2. Understand risk and think twice before purchasing
3. Check the seller’s reviews and ratings
4. Ensure data transfer is secure
5. Save all documents related to online purchases
6. If you don’t make a purchase, don’t leave identity or card details behind
7. Check the website payment security
8. Never send card details by email, text or other messaging methods
9. Don’t send money to someone  you don’t know – check first
10. Use credit cards when purchasing online

See further details at https://www.europol.europa.eu/eCommerce

Businesses are warned to protect their sales and revenues by identifying risks: know their product, know their customers, utilise safe means of payment and use reliable delivery methods. Consumers and Businesses must protect their personal data during transactions other than the normal data required to complete a transaction.  This site provides advice on all aspects of online shopping.

#SellSafe

Details of the Europol #SellSafe awareness campaign can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/y4uflp3m

See below video on the #SellSafe campaign urging businesses to protect their sales and revenues by identifying the risks.