Cybercrime’s continued shift to a service-driven economy has enabled several new professionalised hacking services with Refund Fraud-as-a-Service being one of the latest to rise in popularity over the last few years. This is according to Netacea’s latest threat report which researched rising trends across a multitude of hacking forums.
Refund fraud is the abuse of refund policies for financial gain and costs e-commerce businesses more than $25 billion every year. Those interested in committing refund fraud can outsource the process to professional social engineers offering Refund-as-a-Service. This poses a significant challenge to retailers, as previously legitimate customers can enlist highly experienced fraudsters to perpetrate this fraud on their behalf, making it difficult to identify fraudulent activity. As online shopping continues its upward trend, professional fraudsters will look to cash in on the opportunity. Netacea’s research also found:
- Over 540 new refund fraud service adverts were identified in the first three quarters of 2022
- Refund fraud services increased by almost 150% from 2019 – 2021
Also Read: Ways AI Is Detecting and Preventing Identity Fraud
Netacea’s report explores the current structure of the underground Refund-as-a-Service market, the changing tactics and methods used by adversarial groups to perform refund fraud and how threat intelligence and fraud teams can work collaboratively to effectively combat it.
“As shown in the rise of ransomware-as-a-service attacks, cybercriminals have shifted to a service-based economy — and refund fraud is no exception” said Cyril Noel-Tagoe, Principal Security Researcher, Netacea. “As we approach Black Friday and the holiday season, e-commerce stores should take the necessary steps to reduce their risk of refund fraud including educating employees on the methods and tactics fraudsters take.”
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