Online brand protection specialists Global Brands Protection the websites of 100 of the UK’s most popular high street retailers, including John Lewis, French Connection and Debenhams, to assess how well their assets were protected online. It found that 84% of the country’s top 100 brands leave their websites open for scraping and fraudulent use.
Key components examined included the company logo, product images, trustmarks and payment pages – in other words, those items that a would-be criminal would require to give their fraudulent site a legitimate appearance to online shoppers.
Marc Howard, co-founder of Global Brands Protection Ltd, said: “The results were somewhat astounding. Of the 100 sites we assessed, a mere 39 had seemingly taken any steps at all to protect the assets on their websites. Fully 84 per cent had product images that could be taken and the payment pages of 85 per cent were unvalidated. Essentially what this amounts to is the perfect recipe for online fraud. Using basic site scraping tools it’s possible to create a mirror image of a site using logos, the product images, and any other items that a consumer might look to for reassurance, such as validation marks. By leaving key elements of their sites unprotected, they are incredibly vulnerable to copycat sites. In most circumstances, a brand only becomes aware of a problem when consumers report that they have been ripped off.”
Images and logos can be taken in seconds either manually or by automated software. From the simple ‘right-click’ facility to take images, to sophisticated web-scrapers, which are freely available on the internet, criminals can download all the images on genuine sites to give them the collateral to build fake websites. At present, once an image has been removed from a genuine website, it is extremely difficult, and often impossible, even with current search tools, to find out who is using a brand’s images, where they are being used and for what purpose, legitimate or otherwise.
This research came out as it hit the news that online ticket fraud is growing in the UK. Using similar tactic to those described above, cyber criminals are creating legitimate-looking websites to scam customers buying tickets for popular events. The UK’s national fraud and Internet crime centre – Action Fraud – has taken the issue seriously and has devised a unit to specialize in online ticket fraud.
They also urge any British customers who have been victims of online fraud to report it to their service and to be attentive when shopping online, especially now during the busy Christmas period. Stephen Proffitt, Head of Action Fraud, said: “We want online shoppers to be vigilant at all times, but especially in the run-up to Christmas. More people than ever are expected to shop for their presents online and we don’t want them to be victims of fraud. In the last 12 months Action Fraud has seen a 37 per cent increase in reports of online shopping and auction fraud. Even experienced computer users should think about their safety and security online. Ensure your computer has up-to-date virus software and consider using a separate card for online shopping. Always safeguard your personal details, especially passwords and PIN numbers.”
For more tips on how to avoid online scams this Christmas, click here.
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