Author: Karolina Zareba, Head of Payments and Fraud Prevention at G2A.COM

Fraud is becoming more sophisticated as cybercriminals develop increasingly complex methods to trick their victims. Shoppers lost £11 million in the past year over the festive season, with the average person losing £695.

There are many different types of fraud prevalent online, such as phishing emails, fake investments, and social media scams. However, some methods create a safer digital environment and can help individuals avoid potential fraud traps.

The rise of social media scams 

Social media scams are widespread and becoming commonplace. Cybercriminals pretend to be a loved one and contact victims, impersonating a relative, and requesting money through online platforms. It can sometimes pose as official banks or secure platforms like PayPal to persuade victims.

Unfortunately, these scams are difficult to catch.

G2A.COM, the world’s largest digital online marketplace with digital entertainment offerings, has payment security as one of its top priorities. They believe that there is a duty to inform customers about the dangers of online scams and have since begun implementing vital tools to protect users on their online marketplace platform, where customers can make transactions.

New payment technologies

 The rapid acceleration of AI can help prevent fraud by making it easier to detect and flag suspicious activities in real-time before they can affect an individual. AI disrupts cybercriminals, preventing them from carrying out sophisticated attacks on victims.

G2A.COM implements automation and AI tools on its online platform and uses innovative technology for multiple reasons.

It can help to analyse vast amounts of data simultaneously, identifying trends and patterns online that may take weeks to do with manual labour. By using automation to flag suspicious behaviour, it can inform users immediately when they attempt to make a suspicious payment online.

By also analysing data, AI technology can recognise when there is an anomaly in the system. Unusual behaviour, such as unexpected large transactions or login attempts from unfamiliar locations, is flagged and blocked, preventing bots from entering the platform and infiltrating it. The benefit of AI is that it continuously improves by learning from historical fraud cases, catching onto future attacks faster than before. Karoline believes AI is a powerful tool and with its advancement, it can help to massively reduce fraud prevention online.

Stronger authentication measures

 A key strategy to enhancing online payments is to turn on multi-factor authentication on platforms where individuals are making a purchase.

By requiring users to verify payments through methods such as biometrics, one-time passwords or authentication apps, it significantly decreases the risk of fraud and makes it nearly impossible for a cybercriminal to carry out their attack.

The extra layer of security means that even if the cybercriminal has stolen a password, it can’t penetrate through the second wall of security to carry out the attack. In a phishing attack that tricks people into revealing their password, multi-factor authentication can block access unless the secondary layer of security is completed.

Combining these authentication measures on platforms during online payments makes it difficult for fraudsters to gain unauthorised access, protecting both the user on the platform and businesses.

Online education

To prevent cybercriminals from continuing to attack helpless victims, G2A.COM believes that educating people is key.

Increasing awareness and improving people’s critical skills when they’re approached by a potential scam can decrease the risk of them being deceived. This awareness can help individuals recognise red flags about a potentially suspicious email or message, spotting common scam tactics, which can include desperate and urgent requests for money and non-identifying links leading people to another website.

When people are more informed, they’re also likely to report a scam and warn others, creating a sense of community and a safer digital environment against online fraud.

Karolina understands that G2A.COM must fulfil in education as it offers services on its online marketplace platform. Customers can buy games, gift cards, and other digital services through G2A.COM and its top priority remains focused on cybersecurity. G2A.COM works to spread tips about staying safe online.

They create online campaigns on social media to educate customers about what they have noticed and what users can do to stay vigilant. They also believe in expanding on the knowledge they do have, regularly attending financial conferences, both to gain knowledge but also to spread information with other companies, their customers, and the media.

In this podcast episode, Karolina delves into insights that she has learnt as the Head of Payments and Fraud Prevention at G2A.COM and how she is helping to reduce fraud across online platforms with a touch of automation. 

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