Florist shop loses $24,000 to hackers on Shopify

[StreetFight3r]

SINGAPORE - A florist here said her online shop set up on the popular e-commerce platform Shopify was hacked in May, resulting in a loss of $24,000.

 

Checks by The Straits Times showed dozens of other merchants around the world have had their accounts hacked as well. They posted their experience on online forums.

 

The Canadian e-commerce firm has more than 500,000 merchants that use the platform to set up online shops for which the business owners pay a fee for services provided by Shopify.

 

Transactions are made through Shopify, with merchants holding accounts with the company. Shopify then transfers the proceeds to the merchants' bank accounts.

 

Florist Wendy Han, 32, said when she was settling bills on June 12, she logged into her account only to discover that her business had zero proceeds for the month.

 

She said the shop's revenue on average per month is between $70,000 and $90,000.

 

Ms Han, who set up the online flower shop Floristique in 2018 with her husband Shaun Chuan, said hackers had entered the shop's Shopify account and changed the company's bank account to the hackers'.

 

As a result, sales proceeds went directly to the hackers' account instead.

 

"We got the shock of our lives when we realised that we might have been hacked," said Mr Chuan, 33.

 

The couple made a police report here and also alerted their bank. A police spokesman said investigations are ongoing.

 

The couple also contacted Shopify, which investigated and informed them that their account had been compromised on May 28. Losses they suffered were from that day.

 

According to Ms Han, the company claimed to have notified the owners about this via e-mail, but the couple denied receiving any notification.

 

Shopify had also clarified with them that it was "not liable for any damages or losses incurred as it is the merchants' responsibility to keep all username and password information secure and confidential".

 

The e-commerce platform has since temporarily stopped transferring the company's earnings to all bank accounts, to prevent further losses.

 

Mr Chuan said the company should have asked for verification before changing the bank account details.

 

"It's a feature they should implement," said Mr Chuan.

 

Ms Han posted her experience on Floristique's Facebook page on Friday (June 14), warning other business owners to protect their hard-earned money by changing their passwords often and to set up two-step verification for their accounts.

 

"As a florist business, we don't earn a lot. This loss has made quite an impact on us," said Ms Han.

 

"I never expected that this would happen to us. I hope that people will be more vigilant as there are more of such online scams," she added.

 

The Straits Times has contacted Shopify for a response.

[Solar]

Didn't know flower shop has this amount revenue?

 

She said the shop's revenue on average per month is between $70,000 and $90,000

[Lala81]

Ouch.

[BanCoe]

1 day revenue $24k ......IRAS come know.... maybe 1 day work , rest 6 days wiping tables

Edited June 15, 2019 by BanCoe

[Lala81]

  On 6/15/2019 at 1:09 AM, BanCoe said:

1 day revenue $24k ......IRAS come know.... maybe 1 day work , rest 6 days wiping tables

[Tianmo]

  On 6/15/2019 at 1:09 AM, BanCoe said:

1 day revenue $24k ......IRAS come know.... maybe 1 day work , rest 6 days wiping tables

[Vid]

70-90k is not high. Minus off all the overheads, not really a lot

[Daniu82]

Didn't know florist can make so much. Online shop somemore.

Edited June 15, 2019 by Daniu82

[Thaiyotakamli]

  On 6/14/2019 at 11:09 PM, Solar said:

Didn't know flower shop has this amount revenue?

 

She said the shop's revenue on average per month is between $70,000 and $90,000

I think high overhead, at most earn $10-20k

[Angcheek]

  On 6/15/2019 at 1:09 AM, BanCoe said:

1 day revenue $24k ......IRAS come know.... maybe 1 day work , rest 6 days wiping tables

[t0y0ta]

Quite a babe

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/florist-loses-24000-to-hackers-on-shopify

[Playtime]

  On 6/15/2019 at 3:29 PM, t0y0ta said:

Quite a babe

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/florist-loses-24000-to-hackers-on-shopify

Hahaha... i knew it had to come