Ten Ways to Foil Credit Card Fraudsters

In the last twelve months, credit card fraud against online
companies has exploded as more and more thieves figure out how
easy it is. To make matters worse, online and phone orders are
not automatically insured against fraud - you are 100% liable
for all your losses.

So here are some easy ways to protect your e-business from
credit card fraudsters:

1. Reject orders sent from free web-based email accounts like
Yahoo or Hotmail. Antifraud.com says nearly all fraudulent
orders come from free accounts.

2. Most real businesses have e-mail addresses that include their
website's domain name. Go to their site and see if it looks
legit.

3. If the billing address is different from the shipping
address, this should raise a red flag, especially if they are in
different states or countries.

4. Another high-risk transaction is two or more orders from the
same credit card. 5. When in doubt, phone the number listed on
the order.

6. US banks have an Address Verification System (AVS) that
merchants can use to ensure the billing address the purchaser
has given matches the one in the AVS system.

7. If you use an online order processor, make sure it has
thorough fraud prevention measures.

8. Put a message on your site warning crooks you have anti-
fraud protection in place.

9. Create a blacklist of bad credit card numbers so you won't
get ripped off twice by the same thief.

10. If you want an extra sense of security, insurance coverage
is now available against this type of fraud. One reputable site
that offers it is http://www.iib.com.au/