During webinar organized by the NTA yesterday 08.02.2021, on the occasion of Safer Internet Day, on the topic: "Digital Fraud in the COVID-19 Era and Ways to dealing with them", more than 280 professionals from both public and private sectors, had the opportunity to be informed about various forms of online fraud and received practical methods of prevention and protection from them.
The discussion was welcomed by the NTA Governor Mr. Angelos Binis, who spoke about fraudulent practices related to the pandemic and to other emergency and natural disasters in general. Following his remarks, statements were made by Mr. Vassilis Papakostas, Director of the Cyber Crime Division of the Hellenic Police, Mr. Spyridon Peristeris, Director of Data Management, Statistical Processing & Supervision of E-Commerce - Interdepartmental Market Control Unit at the General Secretariat of Commerce, Ms. Katerina Fakida, President of the Hellenic E-Commerce Association/GR.ECA, Mr. Stelios Petridis, General Director of GR.ECA., Mr. Alexandros Leoussis, Member of GR.ECA.’s BoD, Mr. George Avgoustidis, Co-Founder of Skroutz S.A. and Mr. Christos Topakas, Senior Director - Chief Information Security Officer - Piraeus Bank Group. The discussion was moderated by the journalist - radio producer Christina Vidou.
According to the data presented, the increase in digital fraud/ online scams in the midst of the pandemic is impressive, with consumers appearing poorly informed about how they can protect themselves and where to report such incidents.
In particular, the speakers’ statements included an interesting reference by Mr. Papakostas to the pandemic circumstances, which have been exploited by fraudsters, stating that "the necessarily rapid adaptation of both public and private sectors to this new environment created by the pandemic, has created a series of ‘opportunities’ for fraudsters, given that in many cases there has been no proper information and training of online services users”.
Interesting was the statement of Mr. Peristeris who stressed that illegal trade is a matter of national security for the General Secretariat of Commerce and the Ministry of Development, as it affects the national economy, public health and consumer safety. He noted that fraud related to e-commerce exceeds that of physical commerce, with sales through social media platforms witnessing a significant increase. Of great interest was the example of an e-shop selling a machine that supposedly cures COVID-19.
Ms. Fraidaki referred to the shopping part of the business noting that “it is important that consumers can trust online stores.
Mr. Leoussis spoke about the credibility that the trustmark gives to the e-shop, which evaluates and guarantees e-shops for consumers, protecting them from illegal practices.
Mr. Petridis spoke about the cooperation with the Ministry of Development for the publication of a Consumer Protection Guide for online shopping.
Mr. Avgoustidis referred to Skroutz’s goal to make online shopping reliable and provided a Statistical Analysis Data, noting among other things that Skroutz is the number one online shopping platform in Greece with 9 million unique users per month.
Mr. Topakas spoke about the increase observed due to the pandemic in electronic fishing, stealing either electronic banking data or credit cards and referred to the close cooperation of Piraeus Bank with the Cybercrime Department and the Bank of Greece under the auspices of the Hellenic Banking Union, where a special Committee records how the market moves and then informs clients.
Of particular interest was the interaction section with the public, who through the on line voting process, via the mentimeter platform, 12% responded that they had been a victim of online fraud in the midst of a pandemic, 22% responded that they had made a complaint, and that they would choose to report an incident to the NTA, the Consumer’s Ombudsman and the Cybercrime Unit of the Hellenic Police.
You can watch the webinar in the following link: