Plenty of cyber crimes are economically motivated, and 99% of them are committed by online stores that lack trust seals; therefore customers should ensure that such seals exist at the time of online purchases to make it possible for the police to pursue the store in case of cyber crime, Col. Ali Niknafas, head of cyber crime prevention center at Iran’s Cyber Police (FATA), had warned last month at the national e-shopping festival.
A trust seal is a seal granted by an entity to a website or businesses for display. Often the purpose is to demonstrate to customers that the business in question is concerned with security and their business identity. The requirements for the displaying merchant may vary, but typically involve dedication to good security practices or the use of secure methods for transactions or most importantly, verified existence of the company.
Trust seals can come in a variety of forms, including data security seals, business verified seals and privacy seals and are available from a variety of companies, for a fee. A trust seal can be either active or passive. Most seals are validated when they are created and remain so for a specific duration of time, post expiry of which the business/process has to be re-validated.
To regulate the Iranian e-market, the Development Center of e-Commerce and the ministry of industry, mine and trade grant e-businesses trust seals with the aim of assuring customers that the business is validated and its existence is verified by the entities, according to IRNA.
Most of the online purchases in Iran relate to household appliances and mobiles (35%), while economic advisory service comprise 12.5%, web domain and hosting service 10.5%, cultural products 9.7%, educational products 9%, and cell phone credits 6.7% .
It has been found that less than 1% of complaints relate to e-businesses granted with trust seals and most of the customers’ complaints of unverified companies relate to non-delivery of goods or services (45.8%), non-compliance between quality and specifications as stated online (20%), brand counterfeit and fake products (10.5%).
Iranian Cyber police tries to monitor all companies to detect any fraudulent activity and bring such firms to book. “Collaboration and synergy of all police divisions will lead to the security of the country’s cyber space,” Niknafas says.
Verification Important
For online shopping (e-commerce) customers, it is vital that they see some kind of validation that the site they are trusting with their personal information is secure. Many studies have shown the importance of this outside verification and its direct impact on generating additional sales. Trust seals have proved to work.
For website operators and owners, the Return on Investment (ROI) alone is reason enough for displaying a trust seal. The increase in sales is measureable and also proven. A shopper safe seal increases trust with customers.
