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PrintSpecial Report: Shopping Scam
For so many online shoppers, a quick morning check of Ebay is as common as a hot latte. Online shopping is hotter than ever. It's convenient and popular, bringing in billions of dollars a year. Esther Ku of Arlington cyber shops to avoid the crowds.
Esther Ku, Online Shopper
"What I love about online shopping is that they deliver to my house. I don't have to carry bags."
But some scam artists have figured out a new way to buy things with your credit.
It's a part of every on-line retailer's check out page. The contact form you fill out almost always has a second address line and you probably ignore it, most of us do. But some fraudsters pay close attention to them.
Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com
"What hackers have figured out, is that if they put garble in the first line and then the real address in the second line, merchants will actually send the product they're sending to the hacker's address."
Scam artists look for sites that are not secure, steal your credit card information and use it at other sites.
Paul Roberts, IDG News Service, Boston
"People in this country have become very used to buying things on the internet. Some of those sites are very secure and some of them are not."
Thieves who have already stolen information put what appears to be a typo or a bogus street name in that first address line. Then they type a valid address in the second line where they want the products to go.
The address looks a little suspicious but on-line retailers don't visually inspect orders. They rely on a computer system to verify personal information. The problem is it only checks part of the billing address and skips the shipping all together.
Julie Fergerson, V.P Technology, ClearCommerce
"So when it goes to the shipping company, they say oh the first address isn't good, but I recognize the second and I will go ahead and ship to the address."
Julie Ferguson of Clear Commerce, a company that tracks internet fraud, says five major web merchants have already fallen victim to the scam and there's not much consumers can do about it.
Julie Fergerson, V.P Technology, ClearCommerce
"This is really a retail problem, not a consumer problem."
Police can't catch these crooks because they use an address other than their own. In fact, they even scope out places where they know people won't be home when their stolen goods arrive.
Julie Fergerson, V.P Technology, ClearCommerce
"They'll ship a whole bunch of products to that address over the course of 2 or 3 days, pretending to do yard work, and after receiving the products disappear off the map."
So how do you protect yourself? Look for the lock and only shop at secure sites and always go over every credit card statement to insure someone else isn't getting what you paid for.
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