Fake Deals and Real Steals: The Art of E-Commerce Fraud

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Presented at Black Hat Asia 2025 by

Sergey Shekyan

Qinger Chen

As e-commerce becomes more deeply embedded in our daily lives, fraud continues to evolve, keeping pace with every new opportunity. Attackers are continually looking to exploit vulnerabilities at every stage of the e-commerce transaction lifecycle. From sneaking subpar products alongside legitimate listings to manufacturers engaging in bidding wars for seller placement, and manipulating logistics, payments, and even buyer psychology—fraudsters are looking for ways to game the entire system.This presentation follows the journey of a fraudulent product, uncovering how fraudsters try to infiltrate e-commerce platforms and push it to the top of search results. Through a real-world example, it will demonstrate how fraudsters exploit algorithms to push their content, while demand intelligence, including inventory coordination and API scraping, fuels their operations.Logistics fraud will be explored in depth, from fake tracking numbers to exploiting platform policies, revealing how fraudsters deceive shipping companies, platforms, and buyers alike. By breaking down each stage, the presentation will showcase how these schemes are detected and how algorithms can mitigate them proactively.To bring these stories to life, we'll share our experience of undercover visits to warehouses, agencies and factories to observe fraud operations. These experiences allowed us to connect the dots between online scams and real-world logistics, and helped us develop strategies to tackle fraudster schemes.The talk will also examine how fraudulent buyers exploit the system, using fake orders and false claims to manipulate the platform and scale their profits. It will emphasize the importance of security expertise in uncovering these frauds and highlight how experience in e-commerce risk control can help identify critical vulnerabilities that may otherwise go unnoticed.This session provides valuable insights for security and risk control professionals in e-commerce and logistics, while also offering a fun and educational experience for anyone who shops online — just like you.Note: This session is available in-person only and will not be recorded for on-demand viewing.