How Arabotic Fights Online Fraud
Arabotic is an open marketplace where companies come to buy and sell. This virtual global business community has some dishonest members. Internet fraud is a growing problem worldwide that poses a threat not only to buyers using Arabotic but also to Arabotic itself. Fraud, including intellectual property theft, undermines user confidence and the sense of fair dealing that is essential to the free-flowing international trade we try to facilitate. This is why Arabotic is dedicated to maintaining a trustworthy online trading environment, and why we are increasing our efforts to protect buyers and police the website for scammers. Read on to better understand the many steps we are taking to combat fraud on Arabotic
Proactive Monitoring
Usually, Arabotic moves against scammers and intellectual property pirates after receiving complaints from buyers who thought they had been cheated, yet our online security team is able to recognize certain behaviours, tricks, and patterns indicating fraudulent activity. Today, with the assistance of major brand owners and scores of Arabotic users, we regularly monitor our trading platform in order to identify and eliminate scammers and brand copycats before they can do much damage
Blacklisting
To make life more difficult for thieves, we maintain a blacklist where we publish the names of suppliers who have been banned from Arabotic for dishonest trade practices. We update this list on a regular basis. We also make this information available to Internet search engines in order to expose the identities of sham companies to the widest possible audience
Improving the Authentication and Verification Process
To provide our users with a trustworthy and efficient international trading platform, Arabotic continually seeks to become more effective in fighting online fraud. We are interested in hearing your views. If you have suggestions for ways we can improve, please tell us at: customerservice@arabotic.com
Tips to Protect Privacy and Security
- Only use secure payment methods to protect yourself, such as L/C payment or a third-party payment service. Third-party payment services allow you to transfer money into an online account and make payments from that account without exposing your credit card or bank account information. Many buyers and sellers prefer using these services over personal checks. You’re recommended to use a well-known online payment service provider such as PayPal to transfer your payment
- Make detailed inquiries about any third-party payment company or online escrow service a buyer wants to use before you agree to use it. Some fraudulent buyers insist that the seller uses a third-party payment service or an escrow service that turns out to be fraudulent. The seller ships the item to the escrow service, but never receives payment or the return of goods. If a buyer insists on using a particular escrow or online payment service that you’ve never heard of, check it out by visiting its website or calling its customer service line. If there isn’t one, or if you call and there is no answer, don’t use the service. If the service claims to be affiliated with a government agency, that’s the sign of a scam.
- Know more about your potential buyers by finding out more about their companies. You should also search for their companies’ names in the search engine to check their business reputation
- Pay close attention to big, urgent orders or government purchase orders. Use your own business experience and common sense to make a judgment
- Be cautious of dealers from countries which have been recurrently reported for fraudulent practices
- Be cautious of buyers who are not concerned with the cost, quality, delivery time of the product and don’t want to discuss more details about the product with you. Generally speaking, a serious buyer should be very concerned about such information
- Consider using an online escrow service for high-priced items. An escrow service acts as a go-between that holds the buyer's money until the buyer receives and approves of the seller's item. Both sides should agree upon the terms of escrow
- Pay attention to buyers, who insist on paying by credit cards because they might be using stolen or invalid credit cards. If you choose to accept credit cards, contact the company that has issued the card to verify that the name on the card matches both the shipping information and the contact information you've received
- If the buyer requests that you send payment to an address other than his registration company address, it could be a fraudulent request from a scammer. Be cautious of this kind of scam
- Look out for Fraudulent Cheques or Money Orders. Sometimes, your bank may not alert you that a fake cheque or money order has been rejected until after you have shipped the merchandise. If you are suspicious about a cheque because it has been written by a third party or for any other reason, call the person who wrote the check to verify that they have authorised it. If you receive a cheque or money order for an amount that exceeds the successful bid, and the buyer asks that you wire the excess funds back to him or to a third party, do not wire the money. Instead, return the cheque to the buyer, and do not ship the merchandise
- Use tracking services when shipping. It is usually the buyer's responsibility to pay for shipping an item, but the seller typically chooses the shipping method. To help ensure that your item arrives in a timely manner, and to help prevent fraudulent buyers from claiming that they never received an item (when, in fact, they did), use a shipping service that includes tracking, or consider paying or charging extra for tracking services
- Never respond to unsolicited requests to update your account information. These could be scams that can lead to identity theft. Most legitimate companies never send unsolicited e-mail or instant message requests for a password or other personal information. If you receive a request that you think is legitimate, contact the company directly (not through the message you received) and ask for confirmation
- Don’t use an online escrow service that doesn’t process its own transactions and requires you to set up accounts with online payment services. Legitimate escrow services never do this
Communicating by Using Instant Messaging (IM)
- Never open pictures, download files, or click links in messages from people you don't know. If they come from someone you do know, confirm with the sender that the message (and its attachments) is trustworthy. If it's not, close the instant message
- Be careful when you create a screen name. Each instant messaging program asks you to create a screen name, which is similar to an e-mail address. Your screen name should not provide or allude to personal information
- Create a barrier against unwanted instant messaging. Do not list your screen name or e-mail address in public areas (such as large Internet directories or online community profiles) or give them to strangers
- Some instant messaging services link your screen name to your e-mail address when you register. The easy availability of your e-mail address can result in an increased number of spam and phishing attacks
- Never provide sensitive personal information, such as your credit card numbers or passwords, in an IM conversation
- Block unwanted messages. Most instant messaging programs allow you to build a contact list (also known as a "buddy list"), which is similar to the address book in your e-mail program
- If you use a public computer, do not log on automatically. If you do, people who use that computer after you can see and use your screen name to log on
