Social media platforms do more than connect friends and publish photos of cats in hats, they also enable brands to create stronger bonds with consumers. However, there are significant downsides, too.
Bad actors have been active on social media since its inception and are constantly seeking to subvert these relationships and defraud consumers by impersonating legitimate brands, businesses, or sales channels.
A social media scammer will set up a phony account and use eye-catching ads and offers to tempt unsuspecting but eager consumers away from the social media platform and onto a fraudulent website. Fraudsters have become skilled in the creation of great-looking accounts and sites, using text and images that are convincingly official.
This illegal activity damages consumer confidence in a big way. Research by OpSec Security found nearly a third of consumers (32%) do not trust social media for shopping now. This is bad news for the platforms that want to expand into e-commerce, but in many ways the figure should be much higher, because the problem is so big.
The Pandemic Surge in Online Shopping Is a Bonanza for Social Media Scammers
The Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting closure of many brick-and-mortar stores for long periods has encouraged more shoppers to browse online. In July 2020, online sales were 55% higher than July 2019. This surge in browsing and e-commerce, while welcome for many retailers is also providing bad actors with more opportunities to potentially damage brands.
The latest OpSec research reveals just how the scammers are exploiting the shift by so many more consumers to life online.
More than half (51%) of consumers have noticed that phishing activity has increased. The result is many now feel less confident than they did in 2019 about purchasing via apps (53% compared with 60%), social media adverts (down from 31% to 26%) and online marketplaces (58% down to 55%).
It is easy for fraudsters to exploit social media platforms. It costs them nothing, can be done with very little technical know-how, and requires little by way of verification of identity or authenticity. A report from the NATO Strategic Communication Centre of Excellence (StratCom) explains how researchers acquired 3,520 comments, 25,750 likes, 20,000 views, and 5,100 followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, giving the appearance of authenticity for little more than $350.
The moves by social media companies to build in e-commerce functionality into their platforms also help to enable bad actors and amplify fraudulent activity. For consumers, the ease with which they can purchase products online through social media channels can lead to impulse purchasing, especially when the appeal of a product is magnified by influencer marketing. Despite Facebook and Instagram beginning to bring in new measures, platforms have nonetheless been slow to automate and enforce measures that protect social media users and brands alike from bad actors. The reality, unfortunately, is that no single organization can police social media fraud and fakery, given its scale and the ease with which perpetrators start-up.
Every day the companies fail to remove scam accounts is another 24 hours when customers will be deceived, believing they have made legitimate purchases with genuine brands through trusted sales channels, only to be disappointed when a subpar product arrives – or in some cases, no product at all.
Whose Responsibility Is It?
Part of the responsibility lies with social media users who need to approach offers and promotions on these platforms with caution. Although deals that seem too good to be true maybe just that, many younger brands use offers and discounts to grow through their social media presence. That complicates matters for consumers.
When they look at purchasing established brands, however, social media users should weigh the risk against purchasing through a trusted retailer or directly from the brand. If a product or offer advertised on social media – and the channel through which the transaction takes place – really does seem legitimate, consumers should use resources from the official brand’s website to validate it. Checking out URLs and SSL security certificates is advisable but not infallible. Free 90-day trials give companies quick access to SSL certificates, so they cannot always be viewed as a marker of authenticity.
Consumers should also do more if they realize they have been duped with fakes by a social media fraud. Yet despite the anger they are likely to experience, only 29% of consumers in the OpSec research contacted the seller after receiving a fake product, while a mere 7% contacted the police, showing a reluctance to take action. For brands, this may mean a delay in being alerted to bad actors posing as their brand online, which could delay remedial action being taken.
Stronger Guidelines and More Action by Brands Are Needed
Of course, businesses want to eliminate misuse of their brands on social media but they also have a responsibility to protect consumers from bad actors. What are required are strong partner guidelines for acceptable use of their intellectual property (IP) and consistency in their application.
To ensure the market has a strong awareness of their official channels, brands must keep an up-to-date channel partner list made easily accessible online. Sportswear brand Gymshark, for example, has demonstrated how to get it right when the scammers emerge. It used its official social media and email channels to alert customers to rogue accounts faking its brand. The communication reminded customers of authorized channels and provided helpful tips for what customers could do should they experience a phishing attempt.
This could be taken a step further by brands sharing steps consumers can take to identify whether or not their product is legitimate if they have concerns. This is where physical authentication products, such as hangtags or holographs, play a crucial role in the e-commerce journey, providing that final reassurance to consumers that they do indeed have the product they intended to purchase in their hands.
Businesses Should Enlist Partners With Smart Technology to Eliminate Bad Actors Faster
However, the scale of the problem and the hydra-like ability of scammers to pop up repeatedly make it tough for businesses to achieve results on their own. The most effective measure companies can take is to partner with a brand protection specialist with access to smart technology that invigorates their online defense strategy. The right partner should protect the brand’s revenue and reputation with the latest in geo-targeting, visible listing searches, and marketplace monitoring. This means bad actors are taken down faster. Combined with the most relevant physical authentication tactics, this holistic approach ensures all avenues are covered, helping to build consumer trust.
Direct partnerships with social media companies enable brand protection specialists to help in the surveillance of platforms, providing additional vetting of sellers while actively monitoring commonly counterfeited items. Above all, though, social media companies must recognize they have a problem that is growing. Once the highly damaging activities of social media fraudsters are fully acknowledged and countered, the platform companies can genuinely say they protect the consumers and brands they serve.
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