Online shops are facing major challenges today. In addition to competition from international providers and the frequent lack of customer trust, there is an increasing threat from fraudulent players. These use the same marketing strategies as reputable companies, such as advertising on social media and in search engines. 62% of Austrian retailers in the B2B sector have already been affected by shipping fraud - meaning that ordered goods were never delivered. The damage caused by counterfeit brands has also increased significantly in recent years.
The project StopFraud aims to combat fraud in e-commerce. To achieve this goal the following steps are implemented:
- a study to better understand the extent of the problem and illuminate grey areas of illegitimate and or fraudulent activity.
- the development of technical tools to recognise and document fraudulent advertising as well as attacks on websites (such as defacement attacks and website compromises).
- expanding the Fake-Shop Detector tool to also detect counterfeit brands and product piracy.
- building strong partnerships with industry associations and platforms.
The ‘Fraud Defense’ service package, which is being developed as part of the project, is aimed at online retailers and relevant industry organisations. The sustainable success of Stop Fraud will be ensured through close cooperation with industry and trade associations, the integration of the newly developed tools into the Fake-Shop Detector 2.0 and the establishment of institutional partnerships with social platforms.