Ecommerce fraud is a mass crime in Germany

Ecommerce News Europe writes that ecommerce fraud is becoming a real problem in Germany.
The reason is the preferred payment method of German shoppers.
A common form of ecommerce fraud is when the scammer orders something online, chooses to pay on account, provides a false or found name and account number, and gives a certain address where he can then pick up his order. The fraudster runs off with his expensive, but free product, while an innocent person is stuck with the bill.
Only getting someone’s name and date of birth can sometimes be enough to trick online shops.
A television crew spoke with the head of a gang of about 200 fraudsters. He’s currently in prison as he got arrested after six years of investigation. He and his network stole about 13 million euros, generated through about 26,000 online orders.
According to the Russian fraudster, he deliberately chose Germany after trying to commit fraud in several other countries. “Compared to other countries, the security system in Germany is the weakest”, he says.
The fraudster blames the companies that make their payment mechanisms available to online retailers in Germany.
German online shoppers like to buy on account as it is easy. Most retailers have little choice but to offer the risky invoice as a payment method. A spokeswoman for service provider Ratepay admits that if they make paying too difficult, nobody buys anymore and then they don’t make any more sales.
There are always additional security measures like two-factor authentication. But most consumers see these things as a hurdle as well. For the online retailer, it’s weighing security against sales.
Consumers are also hurt by the crime. For example, in a woman’s name there were goods ordered with a total worth of 6,000 euros, leading to trouble with debt collection agencies and possible Schufa entries (credit record in Germany).
And there is a simple, but painful reason she didn’t notice anything about the supposed orders until the reminders came. For many online shops, it’s sufficient to get a real name and date of birth in order to offer purchase on account. A customer would also have to provide a home address and e-mail address, but these won’t get checked. They can therefore be set up by the fraudsters themselves.
According to Stefan Keller from the law enforcement agency in Berlin, there were over 19,000 cases in the city-state alone last year. And the clearance rate is only 12 percent.