Almost every aspect of our lives is influenced by the web, such as in entertainment, education, health, commerce, the government, social interaction, and many more. The profound impact these recent changes have on our lives requires to rethink the way we make decisions in these areas.

Besides questions related to cost and benefit, there are important issues raised by users regarding trust and safety. Can I trust this service with my data? Is it safe to use? In many cases, trust-related issues become a deal-breaker for the adoption of online services. We commonly find cases where people avoid online banking or buying products online due to the fear of becoming prey of fraudulent activity. Thus, providing a trustworthy environment for users is of utmost importance.

When online fraud are committed, fraudsters take advantage of gaps allowing them to unjustifiably enrich themselves. However, when fighting fraud, companies face a dilemma, given that no system is perfect: In e-commerce, on the one hand, fraud and its related losses should be reduced on the other hand, users neither want to be accused of fraud nor treated like criminals. In other areas, such as health, the problems associated with data abuse and security leaks could even result in more severe damage than purely financial matters.

Yet, companies’ practical implementations of fraud investigation processes rarely meet scientific standards. Fraud prevention companies offer diverse products on the market, but neither their effectivity nor their efficiency has been verified scientifically until now. Dealing with these issues, the first step should be a clean definition of what constitutes fraud and how it can be measured. Afterwards, models can be built and tested according to scientific standards of evaluation. On this basis, a careful risk analysis can be conducted in order to weigh pros and cons of pursuing individual suspicious cases.

Companies spend millions to protect themselves from fraudulent activities. One of the most interesting aspects is the fact that fighting fraud is a social interaction that needs constant supervision and improvement: a never ending race between criminals and investigators, in which both actors adjust for the actions of the other.

This workshop aims at bringing together research from a wide array of disciplines (mathematics, computer science, economy, philosophy, social science) to (i) understand the cases and motivations of fraudulent activities in online environments, (ii) find solutions to detect and analyze fraud, and (iii) derive means to prevent it.