| An Garda Síochána wish to support Europol in a Europe-wide campaign to promote safe online shopping during the Christmas season and beyond from the perspective of consumers and of businesses. In the period from 1st January 2020 until 31st October 2020, 489 Online Shopping Frauds have been reported to An Garda Síochána. The average loss was €2,306 per incident representing an overall loss to Irish citizens of €1,127,972.The business community are frequently targeted by fraudsters using stolen or compromised credit cards, bank accounts or payments, in what is called Card Not Present Fraud. Businesses who are victims of this fraud will suffer losses under the ‘charge back’ process. In the first 10 months of 2020, 346 Card Not Present Frauds have been reported to An Garda Síochána in Ireland 2020 to date, representing an average loss of €1,083 or a total of €374,751. As we enter this busy season, consumers and businesses will be particularly active online and An Garda Síochána and Europol advise consumers to follow the golden rules for online shopping. The Golden Rules 1. Buy from trusted sources 2. Understand risk and think twice before purchasing 3. Check the seller’s reviews and ratings 4. Ensure data transfer is secure 5. Save all documents related to online purchases 6. If you don’t make a purchase, don’t leave identity or card details behind 7. Check the website payment security 8. Never send card details by email, text or other messaging methods 9. Don’t send money to someone you don’t know – check first 10. Use credit cards when purchasing online |
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