industry focus
Dare to share to deliver results in online fraud disruption
Christmas may only be around the next corner, but so is the spectre of festive fraud and the likelihood of a ‘cruel Yule’ for many unsuspecting retailers.
Rather like COVID-19, fraud has been a growing and omni-present threat throughout 2022, continuing to mutate and morph in response to disruptive interventions from affected organisations.
From investing in fraud as a service (FaaS) offers on social media in the same way as they would buy any other everyday items, to the purchase of ‘how to’ guides to secure bogus returns scams, the cost-of-living crisis has spawned an industry where consumers and criminals openly share modus operandi (MO) in return for a percentage of the spoils.
Retailers have been quick to close off vulnerabilities in their own processes, but they now also collaborate with each other as well as specialist third parties to directly target the perpetrators and, by daring to share intelligence and data, effectively turn the tables on the keyboard criminals.
Comsec is one such third party expert that has mined the rich seams of retail data and open-source intelligence to not only understand the MOs, but also pinpoint, infiltrate and bring to justice the ringleaders who have made fraud their lucrative day job, as part of a brand-new end-to-end solution
Already working with some of the best-known brands and retailers worldwide, Comsec has an established track record in end-to-end fraud investigations through its market-leading and pedigree Watchdog software used to identify those involved in the sales of counterfeit and fraudulently obtained products to deter and disrupt highly organised and sophisticated fraud. Although not directly linked to the new solution, Watchdog can also be used to enrich the data presented by the affected retailers.
Comsec, which secured the Most Innovative Online Retail Risk Management Solution and the Best Collaborative Retail Risk solution at the 2022 Fraud Awards in October, now works with leading sports brand adidas and law firm DwF to ‘join the dots’ in identifying the kingpin players in a sophisticated fraud operation and then following up with civil recovery enforcement to recoup losses.
Its open-source infiltration and disruption of the fraud network on social media was made possible by the unparalleled access to both retail data and legal sanction.
“If we have learned anything from the process, it’s that collaboration and the sharing of data was key to this success,” said Alex Jones, Director of Operations at Comsec.
“adidas was ahead of the curve when it came to understanding the problem and nature of the fraud. They needed us to join the dots and they allowed us access to all their claims data which enabled us to enrich this picture through our open-source research of sites such as Telegram and Reddit. Then we overlaid this approach with civil recovery, and this provided the winning combination.
“We found that there were those opportunists who did not see themselves as criminals at one end of the scale right up to the bad actors who did this as their day job. We were able to link all the intelligence and data together as a package for the law firm.
“Seeing a letter from a law firm was enough for many to pay up straight away so that it was clear that their target should no longer be a brand of choice as far as fraud was concerned.
“During our work on this project, we saw dozens of other leading brands come up in the social media forum chats, all of whom are also targets of the fraudsters. If they too dared to share data with us, they could also benefit from this deter and disrupt approach.”
Comsec’s message this Christmas is care and dare to share to help not only your own organisation, but others who may be on the fraudster's gift list.
For more information, contact Paul Tuck.
