afp.gov.au

How to Spot Fraudulent Customer Payments The sophistication of technology and ease of online transactions has made it rather easy for tech savvy and well informed criminals to compromise your customer’s data. Australian businesses have begun to ditch the traditional brick and mortar store transactions - where the customer physically comes to the retailer and purchases their items using real cash – for online transactions where *everything* is carried out using QR codes, cryptocurrency and credit cards. While this eliminates the need for installing expensive firewalls and countermeasures to protect *physical* goods, this only means you need to ramp up your [cybersecurity](https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/cybercrime/online-fraud-and-scams) measurements to mitigate any possible risks of theft. The proper implementation of security measurements requires you to understand how technology and people interact – and how security can *improve* that interaction without adding any discernible forms of inconvenience. # Numbers don’t lie According to a report [by PwC Global Economic Crime Survey 2016](https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/advisory/forensics/economic-crime-survey.html), cybercrime is at number 2 of the list of reported crimes, affecting up to 32% vulnerable organizations. Attacks over the internet are no longer in the realm of dystopian fiction – they’re as real as getting mugged on the street. In the year 2015 alone, Australians spent $1.92 trillion by using cheques and cards, some of which were customer payments made online. Of this, [$469 million was fraudulent activity](http://www.apca.com.au/docs/default-source/fraud-statistics/australian_payments_fraud_details_and_data_2016.pdf). CNP fraud has also increased by 38% to an overall $136 million. # Communication and coordination is key In order for your administrators to properly defend the system from online exploits, they would also need to understand all the possible vulnerabilities in the

How to Spot Fraudulent Customer Payments The sophistication of technology and ease of online transactions has made it rather easy for tech savvy and well informed criminals to compromise your customer’s data. Australian businesses have begun to ditch the traditional brick and mortar store transactions - where the customer physically comes to the retailer and purchases their items using real cash – for online transactions where *everything* is carried out using QR codes, cryptocurrency and credit cards. While this eliminates the need for installing expensive firewalls and countermeasures to protect *physical* goods, this only means you need to ramp up your [cybersecurity](https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/cybercrime/online-fraud-and-scams) measurements to mitigate any possible risks of theft. The proper implementation of security measurements requires you to understand how technology and people interact – and how security can *improve* that interaction without adding any discernible forms of inconvenience. # Numbers don’t lie According to a report [by PwC Global Economic Crime Survey 2016](https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/advisory/forensics/economic-crime-survey.html), cybercrime is at number 2 of the list of reported crimes, affecting up to 32% vulnerable organizations. Attacks over the internet are no longer in the realm of dystopian fiction – they’re as real as getting mugged on the street. In the year 2015 alone, Australians spent $1.92 trillion by using cheques and cards, some of which were customer payments made online. Of this, [$469 million was fraudulent activity](http://www.apca.com.au/docs/default-source/fraud-statistics/australian_payments_fraud_details_and_data_2016.pdf). CNP fraud has also increased by 38% to an overall $136 million. # Communication and coordination is key In order for your administrators to properly defend the system from online exploits, they would also need to understand all the possible vulnerabilities in the