Friday, December 22, 2017
The NRF expects record spending to continue through New Year’s Eve. This includes the upward trajectory of ecommerce spending, which totaled more than $58 million between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday in 2017. Early NRF analysis showed more than 64 million omnichannel consumers shopped across online and in-store channels, and approximately 51 million shopped exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores throughout the five-day period.
Retail growth figures are additionally supported by First Data Corp.’s annual SpendTrend Report, published in November 2017, which noted an 11.9 percent increase in overall spending in 2017. Ecommerce transactions grew 29 percent, a 4 percent uplift from the same period last year. Analysis was based on aggregated retail transactions by 4 million First Data merchants during the five-day period between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, the company’s data scientists stated.
Amid this spending boom, security analysts are warning consumers to be especially vigilant when shopping in retail stores, where criminals may be less conspicuous in crowded stores. In a Dec. 17 post titled “Buyers Beware of Tampered Gift Cards,” security analyst Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, warned shoppers to carefully examine gift cards for signs of tampering.
“A perennial scam that picks up around the holidays involves thieves who pull back and then replace the decals that obscure the card’s redemption code, allowing them to redeem or transfer the card’s balance online after the card is purchased by an unwitting customer,” he wrote.
Krebs further recommended “pulling from the middle of the pack” when shopping for gift cards, because those cards are less likely to be compromised. “Also, get a receipt when buying the card so you have proof of the purchase,” he wrote. “Include that receipt if you give the card as a gift. Finally, activate the card quickly and use it quickly and keep a close eye on the balance.”
Lisa Baergen, Marketing Director at NuData Security Inc., a Mastercard company, noted that “peel and replace” fraud has been around for years. She said criminals are also exploiting passwords and usernames online, using social engineering, repurposed credentials and malware schemes. Technically adept bad actors are also cloning gift cards, she noted, using legally purchased magnetic stripe readers to create thousands of counterfeit gift cards.
Baergan urged retailers to implement multilayered solutions that authenticate users for fraud prevention. “In an age where even the most innocent of Christmas presents can be defrauded, adopting this new technology is a step forward in the fight against fraud,” Baergen stated. “Other measures retailers can take in protecting customers from gift card fraud include adding PIN verification to their cards and keeping them in a secure location - away from the shop floor, to stop the card numbers being accessed fraudulently. Gift card fraud isn’t the present anyone asked for, but a combination of retailer diligence, consumer awareness, and appropriate anti-fraud measures means it is easily returnable.”
Editor's Note:
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