Arm Your Business with this 10 Practice to Stop Ecommerce Fraud in Its Tracks

Fraud costs online businesses at least three billion dollars every year. The number seems to be increasing in the recent times. This means that companies should focus on protecting themselves at all costs. Here are some practices that will help prevent fraud in your online store and will help you to stop eCommerce fraud.

 Choose the right e-commerce platform

If you are a newbie in the industry, it is crucial to understand that there are several online platforms. They offer the business functionality you are looking for. Before choosing the platform to use, conduct some research. Select the best.  Do not only consider the monthly costs or the transaction rates in the platform.  Look deeply into the features of the platform in question. Some of the platforms offer the best and favourable rates to clients. Unfortunately, they do not perform well in the fraud protection area.

As a businessperson, the best online platform is the one that provides top risk management support. Whenever you are a victim of fraud transactions.

 Maintain PCI Compliance at all times

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a set of requirements. They are developed to ensure that businesses that store, process or even submit credit card information maintain a secure environment at all times.  Any businessman who has a Merchant ID should comply with these set of guidelines.

These set or requirements are designed to protect customer data. Any data that is associated with the card owner such as the account number, name, expiration date, social security number or address. It is considered to be confidential.  The guidelines were established in 2006. They apply to all merchants and organisations regardless of the number of transaction or size.

 Check the sanity of your website security

After identifying the perfect and safest payment processing platform for your online store and are already in compliance with the PCI guidelines. It crucial to take some considerations to make sure that any personal or financial data from the business, client or bank are safe and secure. Remember the following:

• During the checkout process, ensure that the URL remains in https.
• Always update all your passwords in the web server control panel. This should only be done on a regular basis in every business.
• Hiring a security auditor is paramount for the e-commerce business. These professionals will be able to detect any weaknesses in the site.
• Several programs have been developed to offer additional protection from hackers and frauds. These programs will work correctly for credit card firms and security software companies.  Conduct some research on these programs and select the one that suits your businesses.

 

 Set up special alerts to screen any suspicious activities

The software platform you are using for your business should automatically alert you whenever a suspicious activity takes places.  You should receive an alert in the following instances:

• The same person uses different credit cards to place multiple orders.
• Phone numbers that are not matching the area code in the billing address.
• Big spenders choose to order large quantities of products of the same product and even pay for an extra amount of amount so that you can ship the items quickly. They might be using a stolen credit card to acquire the products then resell the goods at a profit.
• Any order where the card holder name is not similar to the recipients. This should be considered when there is a foreign address. Some people ship a product to a different destination so that the fraudulent customer can pick a product without the fear of being attacked.

Use Credit Card Security Codes

The three or four digit number found on the back of the credit card is considered to be the credit card security code.  When this is used during the transaction process, it is a sign that the card holder is using a valid card. The security system is usually not printed on the receipts, and this helps in ensuring that the customer credit card information is confidential. The code ensures that your products are safe from any fraud.

When the transaction is being processed, the cardholder is supposed to answer with a code, confirming or rejecting the validity of the number. The number has different names by various credit cards. For Visa, it is known as CVV2, while for MasterCard, it is referred to as CVC2. Always employ the credit card security codes so that you are sure of secure transactions for you and your clients.

 Never Store Sensitive Customer or Transaction Information

In most businesses, the PCI guidelines forbid the business owners from storing information concerning credit card numbers, CVV2 codes, and expiry date. However, if you need to store this information for a specific use, get rid of it immediately. Only keep the least amount of data possible. The information should be enough for chargebacks or refunds.

 Use tracking numbers for your transactions

Tracking numbers for all the orders are the best way to protect your e-commerce business from chargeback frauds.  This type of fraud is mostly referred to as friendly fraud, and it applies when a customer demands the return of products from the merchant. A bank forcibly initiates the procedure.  These type of fraud holds the merchant in question accountable for the charges, regardless of the measures they had taken to verify the order. The business owners are forced to pay any transaction expenses incurred. Such as the fees for the removal of fraudulent funds.

Demand for strong passwords from clients

When you are requesting your customers to open an account with your online business, ensure that they create very strong passwords. This measure will make it difficult for the hackers to access the accounts. Always require a minimum of characters, numbers, symbols or capital letters from customers.  A complicated password means that the hackers will not reach the client information or even perform fraudulent activities from the other end.

Some clients refuse to open a special account just because they want to make a purchase. If you want to prevent losing clients due to this crucial security issue, ensure that the account creation is only available when the client places an order.  This will be the perfect way to retain the clients and protect yourself from fraud activities.

 Educate your staff on different security and fraud Protocols

There are several safety measures that all business owners must take for the sake of their businesses. However, their other measures that the employees can comply with to ensure that your online business is free from fraud activities.

All the passwords used by your staff to access your payment options or the business records must be governed by very strict rules.  Educate them how they can monitor the transactions so that you can prevent any fraudulent purchases and attacks.

 Maintain a file of the fraudulent transactions or attempts

If your business system is hacked or even compromised, it is important to keep a record of all the details in a special file. Record the unfortunate incidences so that you and your future employees can learn and also prevent the activity from happening again.  The file can be used to compare the future transactions. Use the knowledge to deny or even approve transactions.

In most cases, business owners will notice patterns in the fraudulent activities. Some of them might come from:

• The unusually big orders
• Certain geographic regions or countries
• Some shipping addresses that do not match the billing address you are using.