Online shopping fraud worries 93% of Filipinos

Despite Filipinos being fond of online shopping, the majority of them still worry over fraudulent transactions, which are expected to surge this holiday season as cybercriminals take advantage of stronger consumer spending, according to a survey by TransUnion.

According to the firm’s Q4 Consumer Pulse Study, 93 percent of surveyed Filipino consumers were “extremely, very, or moderately concerned with being victimized by online fraud this holiday season.”

This showed a slight increase from 92 percent in the same period a year ago.

“Just as the holiday season drives consumers online to begin shopping for gifts for their loved ones, so does it become a destination for fraudsters seeking to take advantage of this time for their financial gain,” TransUnion Philippines chief commercial officer Yogesh Daware said.

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, in a recent study, noted that the online retail industry is among the most vulnerable sectors in Asia-Pacific in terms of cyberthreats. It reported that 37 percent of the surveyed retailers dealt with cyberattacks in the past 24 months.

Kaspersky security expert Tatyana Kulikova said the typical phishing attacks during the holidays were in the guise of gifts and holiday greetings.

Such cyberthreats, usually launched via emails and mobile messages, contain suspicious links which will lead users to phishing sites. In these websites, users can be tricked into providing their personal information like bank account and contact details.

According to a study by TransUnion, 12.8 percent of the e-commerce transactions during the Black Friday shopping period, from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27, were suspected of being fraudulent. This was much higher than 4.4 percent it observed in the same period last year.