The Dark Side of E-Commerce: Dropshipping Abuse as a Business Model
Arjun Arunasalam
Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2024 · Day 3 · Authentication & E-Commerce
In an era where e-commerce has become a global cornerstone of retail, experiencing a 55% surge in online spending pre-pandemic and transactions exceeding half a trillion dollars, the proliferation of independent sellers has introduced both innovation and new vulnerabilities. This talk, presented by Arjun Arunasalam, sheds light on a pervasive yet underexplored dark side of this digital economy: **abusive dropshipping**. While traditional dropshipping is a legitimate retail model involving formal agreements between sellers and suppliers, abusive dropshipping operates covertly, exploiting platform mechanisms and deceiving customers and original merchants alike for illicit economic gain.