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The internet has revolutionised our lives, offering convenience and connectivity at our fingertips. With the rapid adoption of digital payments in India, fraudsters have evolved their tactics, devising new scams to exploit the growing user base. Several <keyword id="20182215" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-scams" source="keywords">online scams</keyword> have been reported in India over the past few months, from the standard UPI refund scams to unbelievable scams such as the digital arrest scams. Here's a look at some prevalent online scams and how to protect yourself: <h2><keyword id="23629952" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="UPI-refund-scam" source="keywords">UPI refund scam</keyword></h2>UPI refund scam is one of the most common online scams these days. It involves a person sending the victim money and then claiming that it was accidentally sent. The scammer then asks the victim to refund the money, often using excuses such as emergency hospitalisations or other important expenses. If the victim refunds the money, the scammer then contacts their bank and reverses the initial transaction, resulting in the victim losing money. How to protect yourself from UPI refund scams: <ul><li>Do not resend the money if someone claims they have “accidentally” sent you money.</li><li>If you receive money from an unknown source, contact your bank immediately.</li><li>If someone says they have sent you money, ask them to contact their bank to get a refund.</li></ul><h2><keyword id="19939895" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="phishing-scams" source="keywords">Phishing scams</keyword></h2>Phishing scams have been around for a long time, but they have become more sophisticated in the digital age. Fraudsters often impersonate reputable companies, sending fake emails, messages, or even websites that look almost identical to the real ones. These messages typically contain a sense of urgency—such as a warning that your account is about to be blocked or that you've won a prize. Once you click on the link, you’re directed to a fake site that prompts you to enter your personal information, including login credentials and payment details. This data is then used to steal money or compromise your identity. How to protect yourself from phishing scams: <ul><li>Be sceptical of unexpected messages or emails, even if they seem to come from trusted sources.</li><li>Check the URLs of websites carefully. Scammers often use misspelt URLs that are designed to look legitimate.</li><li>Never share your personal or financial information without verifying the authenticity of the request.</li></ul><h2><keyword id="23629953" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SIM-swap-scam" source="keywords">SIM Swap scam</keyword></h2>As the name suggests, a SIM swap scam basically involves the scammer getting access to your SIM, either with the help of someone at the mobile service provider or through other means. The scammer often convinces the network provider to activate a SIM card they possess, gaining control of the victim’s phone number. This allows the scammer to gain access to all calls and text messages that the victim may receive, which is important in this day and age where all accounts are linked to your phone number. Once the scammer gets access to the victim’s phone number, they use it to gain access to their bank account and steal money. How to protect yourself from SIM swap scam: <ul><li>If your SIM stops working, immediately inform the telecom operator.</li><li>Make use of a SIM lock, which prevents your SIM from being used on another smartphone without entering a password.</li><li>Avoid sharing personal information online, especially things which can make it easier to crack your passwords.</li><li>Keep track of your accounts and report any unauthorised transactions.</li></ul><h2><keyword id="20415709" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-shopping-scams" source="keywords">Online Shopping Scams</keyword></h2>Beware of fake online stores offering unbelievable deals. These websites might steal your payment information or deliver counterfeit or non-existent products. These websites often advertise unbelievable deals to lure in unsuspecting customers, either with the intention of stealing their data or selling substandard products. How to stay safe: <ul><li>Shop from reputable websites. Look for customer reviews and secure payment gateways.</li><li>Be cautious of prices that seem too good to be true.</li><li>Use a credit card for online purchases. It offers better fraud protection than a debit card.</li></ul><h2>The "Digital Arrest" scam</h2>In this chilling scam, fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials. They may claim you're involved in illegal activities and threaten you with a "digital arrest" or legal action. To avoid this, they'll demand payment or personal information. Victims are often coerced into making payments via UPI or other digital means. The sense of urgency and fear of legal consequences often compels people to act without verifying the legitimacy of the claim. How to avoid: <ul><li>Know your rights: Law enforcement agencies will never demand payment or personal information over the phone or online. </li><li>Verify identities: If you receive such a call, hang up and directly contact the relevant authorities to verify the claim.</li></ul><h2><keyword id="23629954" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="KYC-scam" source="keywords">KYC scam</keyword></h2>With the increased demand for KYC (know your customer) updates across digital platforms, fraudsters are taking advantage by posing as bank or telecom representatives. They often claim that your account will be blocked if you don’t update your KYC details immediately. Victims are then asked to share their Aadhaar number, PAN, or other personal details via a fraudulent link or over a call. In some cases, they also ask users to complete the process through UPI apps, stealing money from their accounts during the process. How to avoid it: <ul><li>Banks and financial institutions never ask for personal details over a call, message, or link.</li><li>Always update KYC details through official channels, like the bank’s app or website.</li><li>If you receive a suspicious KYC request, report it to your bank’s customer service immediately.</li></ul>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/waaree-energies-to-afcons-infrastructure-ipos-to-look-out-for-this-week/articleshow/114421377.cms">Waaree Energies to Afcons Infrastructure, IPOs to look out for this week</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/best-credit-cards-for-online-shopping-in-india/articleshow/114354358.cms">Best credit cards for online shopping this festive season</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bigger-they-are-harder-they-fall-a-look-at-how-the-countrys-biggest-ipos-have-fared/articleshow/114307997.cms">Bigger they are, harder they fall – A look at how the country’s biggest IPOs have fared</a>

UPI refund to digital arrest scam, here are some online scams you need to be aware of

How India's online shopping preferences differ across India​

Last Christmas, my partner's parents made an extremely generous offer: We'd been sleeping on a luxuriously cooling, king-size Zinus mattress whenever we visited, and they asked whether we wanted one of our own. The only thing we needed to do was pick a bed frame. Easy, right?Our first thought was to head to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ikea-cut-prices-deflation-red-sea-shipping-crisis-inflation-greedflation-2024-1">Ikea</a> and purchase our current bed frame in a bigger size, but it was out of stock, so <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/luxury-retail-ecommerce-online-sales-stores-wealth-the-realreal-2024-7">we turned to the internet</a>. Searching "wooden bedframe" on the furniture <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wayfairs-opens-first-ever-physical-store-take-a-look-2024-6">e-commerce store Wayfair</a>, whose tagline is "every style, every home," yielded over 13,000 results. Amazon gave us a smaller but not particularly more manageable 6,000, with sponsored or "trending" bed frames that weren't in our price range — or made of wood at all — frequently front-loaded. The task was daunting.We spent hours at a time clicking between product pages and toggling between search parameters, but none of the options ever lined up. Eventually, buying a new bed frame began to feel like a part-time job that neither of us had time for. Almost a year later, we're still crowding into our old, sagging queen with two dogs and a cat.We aren't the only people feeling paralyzed by making a purchase: On the Reddit forum r/Mattress, person after person complains of the time they have spent navigating a maze of distinctions, like "cooling" and "ultracooling," "medium" and "medium firm," or "memory foam" and "hybrid." For some, the task of buying a mattress was too much: "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Mattress/comments/194n1c5/the_mattress_industry_destroyed_me_emotionally/">The mattress industry destroyed me emotionally and spiritually</a>," one post read. "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Mattress/comments/1chv833/this_is_ruining_my_life_just_tell_me_what_the/">This is ruining my life</a>," someone else wrote.It's not just big, life-altering purchases, either: In a recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/consulting/consumer-goods-cutting-through-noise">Accenture survey</a> of 19,000 consumers around the world, 74% of respondents said that they had abandoned an online shopping cart at least once in the past three months because they felt "bombarded by content, overwhelmed by choice and frustrated by the amount of effort they need to put in to making decisions." This inability to commit to a purchase was reported by people shopping for clothes (79%), flights (72%), and even snacks (70%).Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore College psychology professor, famously called this the "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-too-many-choices-are-screwing-us-up-2016-11">paradox of choice</a>": While having a wider variety of choices can initially make us happier, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-paradox-of-choice-could-explain-why-youre-still-single-2018-2">the more options we have</a>, the harder it can be to choose the best one for us.Schwartz's 2006 book drew inspiration from <a target="_blank" href="https://faculty.washington.edu/jdb/345/345%20Articles/Iyengar%20%26%20Lepper%20(2000).pdf">a study</a> that found that shoppers in a grocery store were 10 times as likely to purchase jam after sampling from a display of six jam varieties than they were from a sampling of 24. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quit-social-media-online-shopping-30-days-regain-control-productivity-2024-7">Online shopping</a>, which the US Census Bureau estimates accounts for roughly 16% of all retail sales, theoretically makes it easier to find exactly what we are looking for. But it also takes the jam problem and multiplies it by several orders of magnitude: We're inundated with hundreds and thousands of choices. With so much information about those choices, it sometimes can feel impossible to go on. What's more, experts say that many of the tools we rely on to help us sift through all of this information — from product descriptions to search engines to e-commerce filters — may actually be making the process even harder.The golden age of comparison shopping isn't so golden after all.The internet changed not just how we shop but also the number of options retailers can offer. Superstores that used to be limited by their square footage <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warehouse-nation-boom-ecommerce-jobs-2022-10">could now fill warehouses</a> with thousands of items that would ship straight to customers' doorsteps. As a result, the retail landscape began to lean toward larger stores with more options.Jason Goldberg, the chief commerce-strategy officer of Publicis Groupe, said "category killers" like PetSmart and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-tumultuous-history-of-toys-r-us-photos-2020-8">Toys "R" Us</a> outcompeted the neighborhood mom-and-pop pet and toy stores of yesteryear — only to find themselves losing out to stores with even bigger inventories, such as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-q3-earnings-shoppers-cheaper-items-high-frequency-good-business-2024-11">Amazon</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-stock-price-sam-walton-family-wealth-billionaires-retail-strategy-2024-10">Walmart</a>. "In the history of retail, businesses with larger assortments have come in, and they've won out over businesses with small assortments," he said.Shoppers, it turns out, love the convenience of the one-stop shop. But that has left us with an ever-increasing number of options. "Amazon's doing what we think the American dream is, which is, have all the choice in the world," Jessecae Marsh, a professor of psychology at Lehigh University, told me. "But choice can be paralyzing." Part of the problem, Marsh said, comes down to the way our brain makes choices. When shopping, we typically start by looking for ways to narrow down the set of choices, such as by filtering out things we can't afford or that aren't the size we want. Then we look for a reason to pick one of the remaining items over the others. "When we try to make decisions, we want a reason behind the decision," she said.This helps explain why ratings and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/insider-reviews-expertise-in-product-reviews">reviews</a> have become such a popular feature on online marketplaces: When we're comparing two similar items, we need to find a piece of information that breaks the tie. A higher star rating, or a slate of glowing reviews from other customers, can be enough to do the trick. The trouble is that having more information at our disposal isn't always helpful. And sometimes, it can render decision-making more difficult.In a <a target="_blank" href="https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-023-00509-7">series of experiments</a> testing how the presence of diagrams influenced people's ability to correctly answer questions about topics like managing body weight, Marsh and Samantha Kleinberg, a professor of computer science at the Stevens Institute of Technology, found that while some guiding information could be helpful, too much information made picking the right answer almost as difficult as if the participants had received no guiding information at all. While the study, published last year in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, didn't focus on shopping, their results suggested that the more information we wade through when we're trying to make a decision, the more likely we are to come across something that conflicts with our beliefs, which complicates the decision-making process."If you've tried an Oil of Olay moisturizer, and you had a reaction to it, but you're seeing website over website telling you that's the best one, you're now in a position where the information that you're getting doesn't match information that you hold in your own head," Marsh said. "That conflict is always going to be hard for people because they don't exactly know how to resolve it."It doesn't help that the tools we use to reduce overwhelm may actually make things even more daunting. Raluca Ursu, an associate professor of marketing at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, told me that tools like filtering, sorting, and using recommendations could bog us down by revealing new factors to investigate, which leads people to search more — and, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25674430">research has found</a>, be less satisfied with their choices. Search engines such as Google, which present options in a ranked list, <a target="_blank" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jmr.09.0481?journalCode=mrja">can also lead</a> to a "maximizer" mindset. "Consumers start to believe they can find 'the best option' out there, which can then lead to additional stress and decision paralysis," Ursu told me. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/search-web-email-google-streaming-online-shopping-broken-2022-4">decline of Google Search</a> probably doesn't help matters, either.Ursu has studied two factors in shopping: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/document/2022-01/SearchGaps_UrsuZhangHonka_Dec2021.pdf">search costs and search fatigue</a>. "Search costs generally reflect the time and effort consumers require to obtain information about a product," she said via email. "How difficult is it to determine this TV's price and technical specifications?" While search costs are typically much smaller online than they are IRL, where you have to jump in a car and drive to a store, search fatigue grows when shopping online because there's more information available and more options to sift through. Ursu guessed that the most exhausting stage of shopping is comparison shopping — when people pore over minuscule details between products to find the best one.If people <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/online-shopping-coping-mechanism-target-pandemic-2021-3">abandon their shopping carts</a> because they get overwhelmed by search fatigue, it can come back to bite retailers. In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/document/2022-01/SearchGaps_UrsuZhangHonka_Dec2021.pdf">study</a> that looked at browsing data from clothing shoppers in the Netherlands, Ursu and her fellow researchers Qianyun Zhang and Elisabeth Honka found that reducing search fatigue by half led to a slight increase in transactions. They also found that search fatigue tended to affect smaller retailers more than larger ones since people tend to spend all their energy shopping at larger stores first.In fashion, perhaps no company embodies the paradox of choice more than <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stitch-fix-subscription-clothes-review-work-from-home-2021-9">Stitch Fix</a>, which launched in 2011 with a counterintuitive business model: People who didn't have the time or patience to shop could undergo a virtual consultation with one of the firm's in-house stylists, then receive a subscription box filled with a selection of items that had been handpicked for them. It worked: By 2017, the company had gone public at a valuation of $1.4 billion, only to surge to a $11 billion market cap in early 2021, when many customers were holed up at home."Having someone do that front-loaded effort, that seems really valuable," Marsh said. It's the same thing we would do by bringing a contractor into a house to ask, "What are the options here to expand this bathroom?" After lockdowns ended, the company decided to introduce an option where customers could shop for individual items from categories like "jeans," "Lauren Ralph Lauren," and "workwear under $80." But since that pivot away from its core business, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stitch-fix-stylists-say-role-company-is-losing-flexibility-2021-8">the company has been losing customers</a> every year. Today, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sfix-stock">Stitch Fix is valued at $400 million</a>, just a fraction of its market cap at its 2017 initial public offering. Goldberg, the chief commerce-strategy officer, said it's possible that the company's struggles are due to macro factors, like subscription fatigue and a sales slowdown in the clothes business. "Twenty years ago, you spent 6% of your budget on clothes; today, you spend 3% of your budget on clothes," he said. "People used to buy Stitch Fix for clothes to wear to work. You know what people don't do anymore?" Still, the company's decline raises an important point about the value of curation.Short of changing their business models, companies can make things easier on shoppers by simplifying their site designs, reducing friction during checkout, and keeping extraneous information to a minimum. Offering shoppers more personalized search results is another big piece of the puzzle, and the experts I spoke to say <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-amazon-is-using-ai-from-rufus-to-movie-recommendations-2024-7">artificial intelligence may be able to help us</a> winnow our choices down — that's the guiding idea behind <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-amazon-ai-shopping-assistant-rufus-is-like-2024-7">Rufus, a new conversational chatbot</a> from Amazon that answers questions and makes product recommendations. Of course, there's the danger AI <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-scam-spam-hacking-ruining-internet-chatgpt-privacy-misinformation-2023-8">will overwhelm us with spam and slop</a> first.As Marsh sees it, though, the most important thing is shoppers getting to a place where they're dealing with fewer options, even if they believe that more is better. "Whatever people think they want, they should have something a little bit less than that," she said. Marsh recommended researching a category and figuring out what product attributes matter most to you before you start shopping. She also suggested turning the decision over to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides">a consumer guide</a>, a retailer quiz, or someone who has tried a product before you. Many people already do this with<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-luxury-perfume-obsession-tiktok-fragrance-teen-boys-branding-2024-10"> beauty influencers</a>: If you have a similar skin or hair type to someone, seeing what works and what doesn't for them can help narrow down your choices.Still, deciding what to buy can be excruciating — even for people who study decision-making for a living. Recently, after an "extremely overwhelming" experience selecting a bed frame for her own house on Wayfair, Marsh said she realized she was going to need a new rug. "I started looking through the options, and I was like, 'I just can't,'" she told me. "We're going to have to go to a store. I just can't do it again."<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/emilie-friedlander">Emilie Friedlander</a> is a journalist and editor from Brooklyn, currently based in Philadelphia. She co-hosts <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://theculturejournalist.substack.com/">The Culture Journalist</a>, a podcast about culture in the age of platforms.

'I just can't': Why so many consumers are sick and tired of online shopping

In the last few months, have you received a suspicious call from a stranger claiming that you have won a cash prize? Or has someone tried reaching out to you saying that a relative is in trouble and urgently needs money? If you answered yes to any of these questions, know that you are not alone. <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords">India</keyword> has reported a rise in scam calls in recent months and these calls seem to be increasing at a rapid rate. But not just calls, there are various other platforms that scammers try to take advantage of, to rob people of their hard-earned money. Read on to know about the top 5 <keyword id="22618205" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="personal-finance-scams" source="keywords">personal finance scams</keyword> that are surfacing in India and how you can stay safe from them. <h2>Fake <keyword id="20488964" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="job-offer" source="keywords">job offer</keyword> scams</h2>This is one of the most commonly reported scams. Over the last year, there have been many cases where people were approached for seemingly lucrative job offers via platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. Some of these cases involved the victim making payments to certain accounts, while being made to believe that it is a part of the job and there will be a handsome return later. For instance, a PTI report in May this year revealed that a woman from Navi Mumbai found herself trapped in an online fraud and lost Rs 54 lakh. The victim wanted to earn some extra money by working from home and was reportedly offered freelance work by the scammers. She was also told that she would earn money after completing five tasks. And to receive these tasks, the woman claimed that she paid Rs 54.30 lakh in various accounts. When the woman asked for payment after completing the tasks assigned to her, the scammers stopped replying. <h2>Sweetheart scams</h2>Meeting the love of your life through an <keyword id="20167528" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-platform" source="keywords">online platform</keyword> seems too good to be true at times. And sometimes, this really is the case. Various cases have surfaced in the past where the victims were duped of their hard-earned money by their online lovers. Just last month, a man in Delhi was scammed of Rs 1.2 lakh when he planned to meet a woman he was talking to on Tinder. The two met at a cafe in Delhi to celebrate the woman’s birthday and ordered some snacks, cakes, and wine. The woman however, abruptly left in the middle of the date citing a family emergency. And the victim incurred a bill of Rs 1,21,917.70 for food that should have only cost a few thousand bucks. When he questioned the high bill, he was threatened and forced to pay. After investigating, the police found that the cafe split the high bills in a set way: 15% to the girl, 45% to the table and cafe managers, and 40% to the owners. <h2>Fake screenshots scams</h2>Another type of scam that is widely happening in the country is where you are shown a screenshot that gives the impression that your account has been credited with some money, when it actually has not. For instance, in March this year, a Delhi Uber driver was making headlines for overcharging a customer for a ride to the airport. A Moneycontrol report mentioned how a man described his experience in a Reddit thread. As per the report, the man said that he had booked a ride to the airport and the initial fare was Rs 340. However, when the ride was completed, the Uber driver showed him a screenshot which depicted that the fare was Rs 648. The driver had claimed that the fare increased due to more waiting time. However, that wasn’t the case and the driver had created a fake screenshot to demand extra money. After this post went viral, several other Reddit users reported similar incidents. <h2><keyword id="19925254" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="YouTube" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="YouTube" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="YouTube">YouTube</keyword> like and earn scam</h2>This one is similar to the completing tasks scam. In this scam, <keyword id="20013464" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fraudsters" source="keywords">fraudsters</keyword> tend to tell the victim that they will have to engage with a YouTube channel to earn money. They then ask the person to make certain payments, promising a greater reward later on. Once the victim transfers the money, the fraudsters tend to disappear into thin air. In February this year, there were reports of a man losing Rs 16 lakh due to such a scam. <h2><keyword id="19957108" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-shopping" source="keywords">Online shopping</keyword> scam</h2>If you have ever shopped online, be sure to read this one. Many scamsters come up with fake advertisements on reputed platforms like Instagram to lure people into buying items online. In such scams, once the order has been placed and payment has been made, the victim doesn’t receive the products. In addition to this, scammers can also pose as bank employees and gain access to sensitive information of the victim’s account. For instance, a report by PTI last year revealed that a 70-year-old woman was buying six towels online for Rs 1,160. While making the payment, Rs 19,005 was taken from her account instead of Rs 1,160. She tried to contact the bank helpline but couldn't reach them. Soon after, she got a call from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be from the bank and offered to help with her payment problem. He asked her to download an app for the refund. The woman followed his instructions but ended up losing Rs 1 lakh from her account. When she saw the unauthorised transactions, she went to the police station. Meanwhile, another Rs 8.3 lakh was withdrawn from her account. <h2>How to stay safe from such scams</h2>Even though more and more people are being targeted by scammers, there are some ways that you can ensure that you stay safe. Keep these few points in mind in order to protect yourself against personal financial scams. <ol><li>Don’t share your personal information with strangers online or on the phone. </li><li>Don’t make any payments just because a stranger told you to. Verify the situation and the person’s credentials. </li><li>Don’t click on suspicious links that are sent to you on emails or text messages. </li><li>Avoid shopping for doubtful websites or accepting job offers from sites that appear dubious. </li><li>Before taking up any job offer, perform a thorough search of the company or the person who is claiming to recruit you. </li><li>Read up a bit about popular scams going on right now. At times, a simple Google Search can help you save up loads of money. </li></ol>

Top 5 personal finance scams in India and how to stay safe from them

Why 1 in 2 Indians reject bank applications: FICO survey insights

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Capsule aims to revolutionize shopping with an interactive app for on-demand product discovery.</li><li>The app uses computer vision and generative AI to identify and recreate products globally.</li></ul>The way we shop is in for a revolution.Instead of walking into a store, browsing a catalog, or scanning the web for your favorite brands, imagine being able to shop just like you'd identify a song with the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-shazam#:~:text=Become%20an%20Insider%20and%20start,short%20sample%20of%20their%20audio.">music discovery app Shazam </a>— on demand, whenever, and wherever you're located. That's the vision behind the interactive shopping app Capsule.The e-commerce world has seen this concept before. In 2019, Amazon unveiled <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-launches-shazam-for-clothes-2019-6">StyleSnap, an AI-driven tool</a> that matched fashion photos users uploaded with products on its site. Brands like Asos, Wayfair, and Target have launched similar tools that rely on computer vision and deep learning algorithms to identify styles, shapes, and patterns from pictures.But Capsule's goal is more ambitious and far-reaching: It aims to become the default destination for online shopping. Instead of relying on its inventory or partnerships with other brands, the company scrapes data from some 20,000 websites nightly, ingests it, and uses it to power its product index.Capsule cofounder and CEO Michele Van Ruiten told Business Insider that its mapping out women's fashion, intending to own the space within two to a half years. Its eventual goal is to "create a universal horizontal data layer of commerce that exists above the internet," Van Ruiten said. "This data layer understands products, every shoppable product globally, what it is, who sells it, what it's made of, and its resale value."So, consumers will no longer need to conduct laborious online searches for a specific pair of heels or a water bottle. "A single search considers everything online," Van Ruiten said.<h2 id="e53b8a84-5b1e-4da1-a726-2ace3df2072b">Snap a picture, buy the dress</h2><div type="image" title="Capsule user guide" height="1050" width="2478" msid="112444035" hostid="261" sizebytes="93000"></div>In practice, Capsule works a bit like a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-images">Google reverse image search</a> on hyperdrive. Users simply take a picture of a product — whether that's an actor wearing a dress they like or a pair of shoes they've spotted in a store window — and upload it to the app, and it will show them the item, along with other, similar, shoppable styles.The company uses computer vision models to infer details about the items in its catalog, compare products to one another, and connect identical items.Beyond the image search, Capsule can also recommend a personalized color wheel for users based on their skin, eyes, and hair, using proprietary algorithms. It also allows users to augment their searches with generative AI. So, if they upload a picture of a white shirt but want to see it in colors not offered by the brand that makes the shirt, Capsule uses generative AI to recreate it in new colors, allowing users to search for options from other brands.Last month, Capsule also launched a new text search feature in beta that allows users to search for clothes based on a concept they have in mind — whether that's just a "simple white t-shirt" or "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-the-city-surprising-fun-facts">Carrie Bradshaw</a>-inspired dress" — rather than a specific picture.Eventually, Capsule plans to share data on what users are searching for or how they're augmenting products with brands to drive new product designs. It'll need to accrue a few million more users before then, but Van Ruiten said the company is already able to forecast trends before they hit apps like Pinterest or called out by fashion magazines like Vogue.It's paving the way for a new way of shopping that's driven by the consumer.Consumers are shifting away from "wanting to replicate things they see online in a one-to-one way," Van Ruiten said. The average Gen Z shopper, especially, finds fashion inspiration in tons of places across the virtual world — from brands to influencers to viral trends. So they're starting to see apps like Capsule as a place "where their own creativity could put them at the helm of product discovery," she said.

This new 'Shazam' for fashion app could change the way the world shops online

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trading firm Susquehanna is dipping its toe into sports gambling.</li><li>The space has exploded in the US as dozens of states have legalized <keyword id="20103900" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-gambling" source="keywords">online gambling</keyword>.</li></ul>Quants and gambling have been intertwined from the start. Math professor and first-generation quant trader Ed Thorp first rose to fame because he laid out the blueprint for counting cards in blackjack in his 1962 book "Beat the Dealer." A typical night for the late founder of <keyword id="21613450" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Renaissance-Technologies" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Renaissance Technologies" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Renaissance Technologies">Renaissance Technologies</keyword>, Jim Simons, when he was an undergrad at MIT included long-running poker games with his classmates. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quants-book/">now-infamous poker charity tournament in 2006</a> had some of the biggest names in hedge funds competing, including Citadel's Ken Griffin, AQR's Cliff Asness, and PDT's Peter Muller, who came out on top. But they all knew the real money was in the markets, not poker pots. While some quant types have made their fortunes gambling — such as Bill Benter, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-03/the-gambler-who-cracked-the-horse-racing-code" target="_blank">the man who "cracked" horse racing</a> — the most ambitious chased basis points, not parlays. Until now. Trading giant Susquehanna <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/88ba9e42-09c2-480a-8b21-43051707f84d">has built out a 15-person unit focused on </a>sports gambling in Dublin and plans to expand into the US. The number of "well-informed, deep-pocketed users" is growing on Novig, a <keyword id="22230743" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports-betting" source="keywords">sports betting</keyword> exchange, the startup's founder Kelechi Ukah told Business Insider. With sports gambling exploding in popularity in the US thanks to dozens of states allowing online betting, these traders —known to use copious amounts of data and sophisticated programs to trade securities in markets around the world — are diving in in search of serious profits in a nascent space. The increased presence of top-level quant firms is going to cut into the wins of the average gambler even more, said Jacek Dmochowski, a professor at the City College of New York who has studied the "optimal" way to gamble on sports. Sports gambling in the US is no longer a business done under the table with a shady bookie or on a Las Vegas bachelor party trip. Every night, millions are betting on college and professional games, some to the point of no return — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/online-sports-gambling-bankrupting-households-reducing-savings-rcna167235">a study from UCLA</a> found that states that legalized gambling have seen a 28% increase in bankruptcies compared to those that didn't. Through the second quarter of this year, online gambling site <keyword id="23047077" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="FanDuel" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="FanDuel" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="FanDuel">FanDuel</keyword> averaged 3.3 million bettors each month. Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Irish gambling company Paddy Power and US-based DraftKings, made more than $7 billion in revenue across its different units in the first half of the year. Executives at MGM spoke on their earnings call at the end of July about timing product releases for the start of football season. While the limits for many of these online platforms are relatively small compared to the trades the world's smartest quants are typically putting on, the space is growing rapidly. "Sportsbooks will have to basically alter their lines in response" to large wagers from <keyword id="23774657" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trading-firms" source="keywords">trading firms</keyword>, Dmochowski said. "That's going to make it harder for the betting public to make a profit." <h2>Easy wins are already vanishing</h2>The trading firms that are slow to move have already missed out on low-hanging fruit. "It's a very similar dynamic to the electronicification of securities marketplaces in the 70s and 80s," said Ukah, the cofounder of Novig and a one-time Jane Street intern. Just as stock trading evolved from a phone call with a broker who would charge a commission to discount to online brokerages like eTrade to algorithmic trading shops, sports betting has gone from a personal relationship with a bookie to platforms like FanDuel. "The final stage is the algorithmic execution phase," he said. Already, the smartest Novig users are sanding away the easiest returns. Novig, which pulls in odds from different sportsbooks, has seen arbitrages between different sportsbooks' odds disappear after a few seconds now. Two years ago, it was several minutees, Ukah said. "Everyone is much tighter," Ukah said. Dmochowski predicts an "algorithm arms race" between traders and sportsbooks to find "the optimal price." There's demand from Novig users for the exchange to release software that would allow traders to program a bot to trade for them. Ukah said there's no timeline at the moment to release this, but said the portion of the gambling market growing the quickest is from institutions. "It's an uncorrelated, high-volatility asset class," Ukah said. In other words, exactly what trading shops are looking for. Correction: October 29, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the surname of a famed horse-racing gambler. It's Benter, not Bentley.

Sports betting is the next frontier for Wall Street's smartest quants to conquer 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I've <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-not-to-do-at-costco-member-tips">worked at Costco</a> for 19 years, so I have a few key tips for shopping at the warehouse.</li><li>If you <a href="https://www.insider.com/best-things-at-costco-this-year-employee-reveals-2022">shop at Costco a lot</a>, get the executive membership and pay attention to the prices of items.</li></ul>I've <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-costco-employee-bought-this-month-2023-3">worked at Costco's</a> membership counter for over 19 years. Throughout my time at the warehouse, I've picked up a few tips to help save money and grab my favorite items before they're gone.Here are eight tips I use almost every day so I don't miss out on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-nutritious-foods-to-buy-at-costco-nutritionist-2021-6">groceries and items at Costco</a>.<h2>If you shop at Costco a lot, consider getting an executive membership</h2><div type="image" title="The writer holds a Costco executive-membership card." height="1678" width="2238" msid="114854937" hostid="261" sizebytes="170806"></div>I think Costco's executive option is the best way to get your money's worth and make the most out of your membership. Although it's twice the cost of a gold-star membership at $130, the executive membership gives customers 2% back on most purchases, including at the pharmacy and tire shop, and on optical and hearing-aid services.Cardholders usually get their 2% reward in the mail two months prior to renewal time and may use it for future purchases or their next membership fee. Executive members can also receive up to $1,250 on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-things-at-costco-according-to-baker-and-chef-2022-2">qualified Costco purchases</a> annually.Just keep in mind that certain products — including tobacco, gasoline, Costco cash cards, and postage stamps — are excluded from the 2% cash-back reward.<h2>Pay attention to and take advantage of price adjustments</h2>If you buy something at full value and it decreases in price, you might be able to take advantage of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-share-what-not-to-do-at-costco-2020-2">Costco's price and coupon adjustments</a> 30 days from the date of purchase.Bring in your original receipt and head to the refund counter to try for your adjustment. If you can't find your receipt, just simply ask a team member at the counter to help you out.If you purchase something online and notice a difference in the price, go to <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=7d3a4c7e5c730c34d5b93cd12c2ecafbbbab05c0636aa3dbdf0a28247e44e599&amp;postID=64480d5793055474d5421093&amp;postSlug=best-tips-shopping-at-costco-according-to-employee&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.costco.com%2Frebates.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Costco.com under "rebates"</a> and do a price adjustment yourself.<h2>Signs with an asterisk mean it's time to stock up</h2><div type="image" title="A sign for men's pants at Costco with &quot;$5.00&quot; text and an asterisk in the corner of the sign" height="830" width="1107" msid="114854931" hostid="261" sizebytes="31852"></div>Signs with the asterisk at the upper-right corner mean it's time to stock up because <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foods-to-buy-from-costco-for-holidays-culinary-judge-photos-2022-11">Costco will not be restocking that item</a>.If you enjoy a product, make sure to check its sign occasionally. Employees at Costco's membership counter can also check if any surrounding warehouses will continue to restock that item.<h2>Some pricing indicates an item was marked down</h2>Prices ending in .97 or .00 are on sale. Most markdown prices mean the warehouse is trying to get rid of it, or it's a seasonal item.That being said, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-things-to-buy-from-costco-culinary-judge-photos-2022">prices may vary per location</a>.<h2>Don't miss out on Kirkland Signature items</h2><div type="image" title="The writer holds a bottle of Kirkland Signature vitamins." height="1507" width="2009" msid="114854933" hostid="261" sizebytes="97994"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/culinary-judge-best-costco-things-for-shoppers-on-budget-list-2023-3">Kirkland Signature is Costco's own brand</a> and has products that are comparable to more mainstream brands.To me, it's worth trying Kirkland Signature items because Costco offers a satisfaction-guarantee policy. If you're unhappy, you can usually return the item for a full refund.<h2>Download the Costco app before you shop</h2>Downloading the Costco app before <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-employee-favorite-things-to-get-family-on-budget-2022">your shopping trip</a> can be very useful because you can see what's on sale as you shop or even before your trip.You can also access your membership card (which may even eliminate the need to bring your physical card) receipts, online orders, any 2% reward balance, and your Costco Anywhere visa card — if you have one — through the app.<h2>Come prepared to load items without grocery bags</h2><div type="image" title="A Costco travel reusable bag." height="2250" width="3000" msid="114854936" hostid="261" sizebytes="627490"></div>Costco doesn't provide grocery bags, but there are boxes available to help pack your items, usually toward the exit of the store.I also recommend bringing some reusable bags to make packing up your shopping go smoother.This story was originally published on May 2, 2023, and most recently updated on November 1, 2024.

I've worked at Costco for over 19 years. Here are my 7 best tips for shopping there.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/black-friday-deals">holiday shopping season</a> continues to start earlier in the year, thanks largely to Amazon.</li><li>Amazon's 48-hour deals event is underway, along with competing sales by the major retailers.</li></ul>Nevermind Black Friday, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/october-becoming-new-black-friday-amazon-walmart-target-sales-2024-9">Green October is in full swing</a>.The holiday shopping season is underway earlier than ever, thanks largely to Amazon moving up its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-prime-day-deals-big-deal-days-2024-10">Prime Day</a> deals event.Faced with what would ordinarily be a shorter stretch of discounting (Thanksgiving and Christmas are closer together on the calendar than usual), the e-commerce juggernaut is pulling the start of the spending spree into early October.And in modern retail, many competitors look to follow what Amazon does to stay competitive.As Amazon has inched its 48-hour event earlier — from October 11 and 12 in 2022, to October 10 and 11 in 2023, and now to October 8 and 9 this year — competing promos by major retailers are also stepping up to win shoppers' dollars.Target kicked off the sequence early on Sunday with its Circle Week, while Walmart's Deals event gets underway online on Tuesday and in stores on Wednesday.The quasi-gravitational influence of all this promotional activity has even roped Costco into the mix with a Member Savings Event that started on Monday. Costco isn't typically a trend-chasing company, so it's notable that it's on the pre-holiday deals bandwagon during this particular week in October ahead of its formal start to holiday savings in November.Even if the traditional interval between Thanksgiving and Christmas was on the longer side, it would make sense for this further encroachment into pre-Halloween deals to occur.As inflation has eased off, the big lesson for retailers over the past year is that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-budget-era-value-retail-walmart-target-tj-maxx-2024-8">customers are still willing to spend</a> — if the price is right. US shoppers also splurged for celebrations and special occasions.What better way for retailers to tap into those trends than to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-amazon-prime-day-impact-on-retail-industry2023-7">invent a holiday that celebrates deals</a> and kicks off a whole season of festivities?

Amazon's jump-start to the holiday shopping season has even roped in Costco this year

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shein plans to sell its supply-chain technology to other retailers.</li><li>The strategy could help grow its revenue, but experts say the brand's reputation may be an obstacle.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-shein-path-ipo-climate-fast-fashion-controversies-stock-exchange-2024-5">Shein</a> is looking to sell the supply-chain technology that has been a big part of its success. Industry experts say that while it could boost the online retailer's revenues, getting brands to sign on could be an uphill battle.Shein has developed a unique on-demand manufacturing model that enables it to turn around designs in a matter of weeks, compared with the several months more typical among its fast-fashion competitors.Now, according to an investor letter from Shein's executive chair, Donald Tang, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/shein-to-market-its-unique-supply-chain-technology-to-global-brands-32fa0ed8">in March</a>, Shein is looking to sell that technology to other brands and retailers."Supply-chain technology is a top secret for a business like this," said Evelyn Gong, an assistant professor of operations management at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. "People have been curious, and now Shein suddenly is willing to share it with everyone who's willing to pay for this technology, including its competitors."Shein was founded in China in 2012 and moved its headquarters to Singapore in late 2021. It's a private company and thus isn't obligated to disclose its financials, but Coresight Research estimated that it generated nearly $32 billion in revenue in 2023. Shein has grown a lot in a short amount of time, and its ambitions are even larger.It <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-shein-billion-dollar-fast-fashion-company-explained-2023-7">confidentially filed for a US initial public offering</a> in November, which is expected to be one of the largest public debuts in years. After facing regulatory struggles and criticism from lawmakers in the US, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-ipo-new-york-london-us-scrutiny-listing-2024-2">Shein is said to be exploring moving its IPO</a> to the London Stock Exchange.Shein has also grown beyond its fashion roots, selling products in categories such as home goods, electronics, and office supplies. It has also opened up its site to third-party sellers in a marketplace model similar to Amazon's.But Shein's rise hasn't come without controversies — it has weathered allegations related to its labor practices and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/temu-shein-under-increased-pressure-from-us-lawmakers-de-minimis-2024-2">import strategy</a>, among others — that could hamper its efforts to expand to new business lines, experts said.<h2 id="71c04589-0e4b-4cac-91f4-c71ea2486d4c">A 'playground' for small designers and brands</h2>Shein works directly with more than 5,000 suppliers, mainly in China. Its forecasting tools and high volume of customer data allow it to stay on top of the latest trends.By showing it has consistently high demand for its products on social media, it can negotiate lower rates and minimum order quantities with its suppliers, Prince Ghosh, a cofounder and the CEO of the quality-control startup Factored Quality, said. This means it can manufacture only the most popular items and avoid sinking money into inventory that might not sell as well."Fast fashion has been around for a while," Ghosh said. "Shein, and now Temu and many others, really just built this modern version of it that they have owned a lot of themselves."<div type="image" title="A pair of black sunglasses propped on a table with a Shein tag." height="3712" width="5568" msid="110774600" hostid="261" sizebytes="462130"></div>That on-demand model could appeal to small, up-and-coming brands that might want to experiment with designs before they fully scale production. Shein already does this on a smaller scale through its Shein X program, which it launched in 2021. The <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=c7c824610c2b39bedd55d2a22737e85669e9b35d9ab1c297d1b743007976e21d&amp;postID=6658e8e966bb31e50751c374&amp;postSlug=shein-to-sell-supply-chain-technology-experts-debate-challenges-2024-5&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fus.shein.com%2Fcampaign%2Fsheinx-story">incubator program</a> involves Shein manufacturing, marketing, and selling designs created by individual designers.Making the tech available more widely could help partner brands gain valuable insight into inventory levels and forecast demand. Brands that aim to keep their prices low while keeping up with seasonal trends could also benefit. It's often very expensive for brands to develop prototypes themselves, especially in the US, so using Shein's supplier network could be more cost-effective."It would be a pretty good playground for individual designers and small brands or startups that are just starting out and don't have the resources to set up an independent supply chain themselves," Gong said.Shein has also made use of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-temu-de-minimis-tax-loophole-scrutiny-2024-1">de minimis, a provision in US import law</a> that allows shipments of less than $800 to enter the country duty-free and with minimal inspection. It consolidates orders in fulfillment centers in China and then ships them by air to the US in individual parcels. By doing so, it can avoid paying duties that more traditional retailers would have to pay when importing their products wholesale. Brands partnering with Shein could benefit from this practice as well."That's how they're able to keep that low cost," Ghosh said.A Shein spokesperson said the company's success did not depend on the de minimis provision."Our business model, focused on creating an on-demand production approach that measures and responds to customers' needs and preferences, is what drives our growth," the representative said.Still, calls to overhaul de minimis have grown louder in recent months. US lawmakers and advocacy groups argue that the loophole hurts American textile businesses and allows for illicit goods to enter the country. Shein has also said it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sheingroup.com/pdfs/aafa-letter/">supports changes to de minimis</a> as long as they're fair.<h2 id="76aa076e-ab0d-416e-859c-0bf34ace2d9c">Brands might have some hesitations</h2>Shein wouldn't be the first retailer to diversify its revenue streams by selling its technology.Walmart <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-commerce-technologies-trademark-filing-job-posting-amazon-2022-2">launched Walmart Commerce Technologies</a> in 2021 to sell services such as its artificial-intelligence-powered <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240314754136/en/Walmart-Commerce-Technologies-Launches-AI-Powered-Logistics-Product">route-optimization</a> tech and its in-store fulfillment capabilities. The German e-commerce giant Zalando <a target="_blank" href="https://corporate.zalando.com/en/brands-retailers/platform-services/zalando-logistics-solutions/zalando-logistics-solutions-glance">similarly sells logistics services</a> to partner retailers.But Shein has reputational concerns to contend with. For one, it has drawn criticism and scrutiny following <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-factory-workers-18-hour-shifts-paid-low-wages-report-2022-10">reports</a> that laborers in its partner factories worked excessive hours in poor conditions. Lawmakers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/rubio-investigate-shein-and-temu-for-slave-labor/">have called</a> for the Department of Homeland Security to investigate whether goods sold on Shein and Temu and exported to the US were made using forced labor, which would violate the US's Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.The Shein spokesperson said the company had a "zero-tolerance policy for forced labor" and required its "contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions."<div type="image" title="A worker makes clothes at a garment factory that supplies SHEIN." height="3710" width="5565" msid="110774598" hostid="261" sizebytes="685120"></div>"We take visibility across our entire supply chain seriously, and we are committed to respecting human rights," the spokesperson said.Shein has also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-accused-using-shell-companies-to-steal-designs-new-lawsuit-2023-7">faced multiple lawsuits</a> alleging it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fashiondive.com/news/shein-copyright-complaint/696575/">stole designs</a> from other companies. If brands work with their network of suppliers, experts said, it could mean sharing their detailed design information, which some see as a risk. It's not clear whether Shein would get access to its partners' customer data or whether it could use that data to inform its own product decisions."We are continually investing in our review process and are committed to driving industry-wide advancement," the spokesperson said. "Shein suppliers and third-party sellers are required to comply with company policy and certify their products do not infringe third-party IP."Working with established brands could help Shein improve its image as it prepares to debut on the public markets. CNBC reported that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/13/nrf-rejects-shein-membership-as-retailer-pursues-us-ipo.html">Shein had also applied</a> to join the National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade organization in the US, but had been denied multiple times.But if it's successful in selling its tech to brands it hasn't worked with before, Shein could expand its reach, Anand Kumar, an associate director of retail research at Coresight Research, said."Currently, Shein just sells the very low-cost products, but including various brands in its platform, it can sell products at various price ranges," he said. "It'll help to position it to compete with more global retailers."

Shein wants to sell the supply-chain tech it used to disrupt online shopping. Retail experts say brands may have concerns. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A study linked one Chinese criminal organization to over 75,000 fraudulent online shops.</li><li>The group, known as 'BogusBazaar,' has processed over $50 million in fake orders, the study found.</li></ul>Have you encountered an online shop with deals too good to be true? Well, they probably are, and the website probably is too.As the rise of online shopping took hold during the pandemic, so did the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-spot-fake-goods-online-2023-8">rise of fake online shops</a> and products.SR Labs is a German-based cyber security company that consults with clients in more than 21 countries. The company last week announced the findings of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.srlabs.de/blog-post/bogusbazaar">a three-year study</a>, which found that one Chinese criminal organization was linked to more than 75,000 fraudulent online shops.The group, dubbed "BogusBazaar," mostly runs websites claiming to sell items like designer clothes at cheap prices, the report says. Instead, the sites harvest credit card details and collect payments for the fake merchandise.The fake shops processed over $50 million in orders between March 2021 and April 2024, SR Labs says.A spokesperson for SR Labs noted that, since every successful order does not conclude with successful payment, the immediate monetary damage to the victims is likely lower than the figures suggest. But the exposure of credit card details to the scammers will likely "add to the overall damage."SR Labs said the group is highly organized, using a cloud computing model where a core team manages the system's infrastructure while a "decentralized network of franchisees operates fraudulent shops.""A typical BogusBazaar server runs about 200 webshops, with a few servers hosting more than 500," the report says. "These servers are often associated with more than a hundred IP addresses each."Additional data shared with Business Insider showed that victims in France placed the most orders on the phony shops — almost 200,000. Users inside the United States placed the second-most orders — about 168,000 — at a value of more than $12.5 million.Most of the scam's 850,000 victims come from inside the United States and Western Europe, with almost no victims identified inside China, where the fraudsters are based, SR Labs says.The credit monitoring company Experian says that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/preventing-fraud/credit-card-fraud-what-to-do-if-you-are-a-victim/">the best thing to do if you are a victim of credit card fraud</a> is to notify your card provider, request a fraud alert on your credit report, report the scam to the police, and contact the three major credit bureaus.

A Chinese criminal ring has stolen $50 million by franchising thousands of fake online shops, experts say

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I got an unsolicited email from an online store even though I never gave it my email.</li><li>Data-privacy experts say websites often know more about you than you think, thanks to data brokers.</li></ul>I was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/home/best-mattress-topper">shopping online for a mattress topper</a> — of all the mundane things — when something creepy happened.I had opened a website of a company that I hadn't heard of but that several popular review sites recommended. I lingered on the product page for several minutes, reading the specifications of the topper and comparing it with other options. Then I closed the window and went on with my day.About an hour or so later, an email appeared in my inbox."Thanks for stopping by!" the subject line said.The body of the email said, "Welcome!" and offered me a discount on toppers, pillows, and bedding.I was perplexed. I hadn't purchased anything. I hadn't submitted my information in a pop-up box for a discount. How did the company get my email? The confusion quickly gave way to annoyance and discomfort. Even if they somehow had my email, why were they cold-emailing me uninvited?Data-privacy experts I spoke with were not surprised to hear this story. Despite the sense of anonymity that comes with online browsing, the websites you visit know exactly who you are more often than you'd think."Welcome to the internet of the future," Rob Shavell, a cofounder and the CEO of the online-privacy companies Abine and DeleteMe, told Business Insider. "It doesn't just happen to you; it happens to millions of people every day."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/invasion-of-data-privacy-online-in-person-examples-2020-1">Data brokers</a> are amassing more and more information about individuals every day, compiling it into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-apple-blasted-data-brokers-privacy-time-magazine-2019-1">profiles that they then sell</a> to companies or even individuals. Shavell said when DeleteMe started measuring this about five years ago, the average profile from a data broker contained 235 pieces of personal, identifiable information about a person. Today, it's over 600."In five years, the amount of information that the average data broker has on the average person's profile has more than doubled," he said.That information can include where you live, who your family members are, what political party you're associated with, and what kind of car you drive.There are also companies that do "enrichment," which Shavell described as an industry term for the practice of knowing one thing about somebody and then using it to correlate other information that is known about them.He offered a possible explanation of what happened in my case: When I visited the website, it gathered some pieces of unique data from me, like my IP address combined with the fonts on my device or the International Mobile Equipment Identity number on my cellphone. It then shot the data it collected over to a data-enrichment broker, which determined with, say, 93% confidence that this is Kelsey Vlamis and said, "By the way, we know all of this stuff about her. What do you want to know?"The company can then pay for whatever it wants to know about you, such as your email address and maybe even some other information that it can use to do a follow-up campaign later."It automatically all happens, and the transactions all get done, and you get an uncomfortably personalized email based on an action you took when you thought you were more or less anonymous," Shavell said. "And that's happening all over the internet."<h2>If websites know who I am, why don't I get more unsolicited emails?</h2>The explanation made sense, but it did make me wonder why I hadn't heard of this happening more often, especially because Shavell's educated guess was that in the US, slightly more than half of all people's browsing could be identified by marketers or data brokers.But Shavell said one of the big secrets of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cars-recording-data-onstar-gm-lexisnexis-insurance-rates-increase-report-2024-3">data-broker</a> and marketing-technology industry was its efforts to actively avoid creating the situation I experienced."They want to know more and more about you but not creep you out," he said. "They actually typically don't do this. This is probably just sloppy marketing that you ran into."That means companies are usually gathering my data without showing me their hand.Dominic Sellitto, a clinical assistant professor of management science and systems at the University at Buffalo School of Management, calls it the "creep factor" of using someone's data. He told BI most companies would not use a person's data in this way specifically because they know it can creep people out."There's a certain point at which, and I'm sure it sounds like you've encountered it, where I don't like that they sent me an email unsolicited, and therefore I am less likely to purchase something from them," he said. "So companies will tend to avoid crossing that boundary."In a situation like what happened to me, Sellitto said, it's more often the case that the company appearing to have cold-emailed you is affiliated with a company that you have given your data to — for instance, if you buy from a subsidiary of a bigger company or a sister brand to a company you have shopped at. However, in my case, I could find no evidence of a connection.There are some options for people who are concerned about their personal data being out there. Some states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah, have passed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncsl.org/technology-and-communication/state-laws-related-to-digital-privacy#:~:text=Five%20states—California%2C%20Colorado%2C,of%20personal%20information%2C%20among%20others.">data-privacy laws</a> that give residents the right to have their personal data deleted or prevent it from being sold.However, there are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/incogni-review">hundreds of data brokers</a>, and they all have different processes for opting out. If you don't want to go through the process of requesting data deletion from individual data brokers, you can pay for services such as DeleteMe or Incogni, which can send requests to brokers on your behalf.While my case was innocuous, there are plenty of circumstances in which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/planned-parenthood-abortion-clinic-data-broker-sale-report-says-2022-5">private data can be used that are far more malicious</a>, and Shavell said situations like this could help open people's eyes to just how accessible their personal information is."What we don't want to have happen is five years from now, nobody's done anything about their privacy, and then all of a sudden AI algorithms have collected so much data about us they're making decisions that impact our lives behind our back, so to speak," he said. "And we never know about it, and we feel a real loss of control."Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:kvlamis@insider.com">kvlamis@insider.com</a>.

I spent 10 minutes shopping for a mattress topper online, and it dispelled all notions of online privacy I ever held

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Amazon's AI chatbot, Rufus, answers questions about products and recommends items.</li><li>But one thing it won't do: answer direct questions about "dupes."</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon">Amazon</a> rolled out Rufus, a new chatbot, to all US shoppers in September. It's designed to help you find things to buy and answer questions.It can also help find cheaper versions of popular name-brand items, but you have to ask it indirectly: It won't engage with direct asks for "dupes" or copycats of more expensive products.The new chatbot illustrates Amazon's complicated relationship with copycat items: The company <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/node/topic/GER4LUCFFTZJ2FDC#:~:text">forbids</a> counterfeit or illegally replicated products on its platform. But it sells plenty of products that are merely similar to the brands you know from the mall. That's where this AI chatbot can come in.I tested the bot and found it helpful when I asked for gift suggestions for a 2-year-old's birthday. It could also answer questions on product details and help with customer service issues.The one thing Rufus simply will not do is help you find a "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktokers-best-self-care-dupes-cheaper-prices-inflation-2022-8">dupe</a>."Maria Boschetti, a spokesperson for Amazon, couldn't confirm that the term "dupe" is forbidden in Rufus, but told Business Insider, "as we continue to test and learn with generative AI, Rufus, and search may provide different experiences.""Dupe" is common parlance for a similar but cheaper product to a luxury or trendy item. On social media, influencers often talk about being excited to find a "dupe" for items like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beauty-makeup-dupes-name-brands-buy-dollar-general-dollar-tree-2024-1">makeup</a>, skincare, or clothing. My former colleague Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins wrote last year about how <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-is-the-dupe-generation-2023-12">Gen Z is the "dupe generation</a>" — they aren't ashamed of having the off-brand version of a fancier item; they're even proud of it. Notably, the dupes that most people are talking about online aren't for luxury or high-end designer items; they're often of mall brands, like Uggs, Lululemon, and Skims — or makeup brands in Sephora like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/beauty/charlotte-tilbury-flawless-filter-dupes">Charlotte Tilbury</a> or Supergoop sunscreen.When I asked Rufus to find me a "dupe" — using the word "dupe" — of various products that are known for having dupes, it shut me down immediately with: "Sorry, I can't help with that."However, if I worded my request differently and instead asked for an item similar to a name brand — without using the word "dupe" — it was happy to oblige:<div type="image" title="rufus chatbot ai" height="609" width="317" msid="113912115" hostid="261" sizebytes="31278"></div>It's worth noting that the Rufus recommendation for leggings similar to Lululemon pants — "Crz Yoga Women's Naked Feeling Workout Leggings" — are very similar to the Lululemons.I tried asking Rufus for items that people on social media often seek "dupes" for, like Drunk Elephant skincare (popular with the preteen and teen set at Sephora), Ugg boots, and Adidas Samba sneakers. Nope, nope, and nope. Rufus refused my requests for "dupes," although it would happily offer up alternate products if I asked for a cheaper version of any brand-name product — without using the word "dupe."The popularity of these look-for-less items, often fueled by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-pseudo-shopping-channel-gen-z-had-enough-deinfluencing-influencers-2024-4">TikTok</a>, could very well be driving a lot of sales for Amazon: The CRZ leggings Rufus recommended have more than 10,000 reviews on the platform.It's unclear exactly what Amazon's parameters are for a product to be considered a "dupe." The e-commerce giant works to take down counterfeit items and products that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G201361070">violate copyright or intellectual property</a>. And Amazon's policies forbid sellers from using the term "dupe" in their product names or descriptions.Amazon has warehouses full of products that aren't brand names people would immediately recognize — but might be similar to them. There is a wide array of yoga leggings in the $30 range from brands you've never heard of, like "CRZ." How is a shopper supposed to know which one to buy? In theory, Rufus should be able to help — AI should help people compare similar items and answer questions about the products.Still, Amazon's AI likely won't give you the juicy reviews you really want — like the ones of TikTokers who recommend women's fashion, or a YouTuber who compares vacuums. They have the editorial freedom to speak openly about whether a product is a high-quality replica of a more expensive version. For now, Amazon's Rufus probably won't.

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You Searched For "shop online" and got 13 results

UPI refund to digital arrest scam, here are some online scams you need to be aware of

Sourabh Jain

How India's online shopping preferences differ across India​

Prerna Tyagi

'I just can't': Why so many consumers are sick and tired of online shopping

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Top 5 personal finance scams in India and how to stay safe from them

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Amazon's jump-start to the holiday shopping season has even roped in Costco this year

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Madeline Stone

A Chinese criminal ring has stolen $50 million by franchising thousands of fake online shops, experts say

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I spent 10 minutes shopping for a mattress topper online, and it dispelled all notions of online privacy I ever held

Kelsey Vlamis

Amazon's AI chatbot will help you shop. Just don't ask it for a 'dupe.'

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How India's online shopping preferences differ across India