With a bulk of customers using online services, businesses wish to digitise their operations and provide online modes of payments for their customers. Amidst this digital integration arises the threat of credit card fraud and what business must do to protect themselves from it. The figure for worldwide card fraud losses crossed the mark of 31 billion US dollars in 2018. Although consumers suffer in the worst way through credit card scams, businesses are not far behind and can suffer just as much – if not more.
Fraud Prevention tips for Consumers
Every now and then, almost every entity including governments, banks, financial institutes and businesses issue numerous credit card fraud detection tips for consumers. Individually every credit card user must be smart and vigilant enough see some obvious warning signs for fraud;
- Beware of phishing scams – never click on links provided via e-mail; they tend to have malware.
- Beware of social engineering scams. Banks, governments and online retailers never ask people for their personal information (ID card numbers, account or credit card numbers, passwords and PINs) via e-mail, phone calls or direct messaging.
- Keep your personal information secure and avoid giving out any potential identity information on social media platforms. Block your stolen credit card as soon as possible and report the theft.
As technology has advanced at an exponential rate worldwide, credit card fraudsters have found better and yet more sophisticated ways to commit credit card identity theft. Thus it is equally important for businesses to implement equally advanced fraud prevention measures. Individually every business may not be able to develop sophisticated and effective online fraud protection. In recent years, however, the fraud prevention industry has made impressive breakthroughs in this regard.
Apart from such anti-fraud solutions, companies also need to take some active measures to prevent identity theft on their end;
Monitor Your Transactions
In a world dominated by consumers, most of them have moved away from cash payments and are increasingly using online payment modes. Although the use of EMV chip cards has made it difficult for scammers to commit credit card fraud, they can still find ways around them. For this purpose, it is important for businesses to monitor their transactions, both online and physical. There are a number of warning signs in a transaction that can alert you as to whether it is a fraudulent one.
- Check to see if the billing and shipping address for the transaction same or different. If so, then why?
- Also, evaluate the average order size for the nature of your business. If any transaction is larger than the average amount, check to see why.
- Be careful in case the order has been requested overnight.
- Be in the lookout if a large number of orders have been placed through the same credit card.
- Beware if your address verification provider cannot verify the shipping address of the customer.
It is understandable that no business can verify each and every single one of its transactions individually. Particularly if the transaction volume of the business is large, manually verifying each transaction can take an army of human labour. For such situations, it is advisable to avail the services of a verification service provider that can authenticate both the identity as well as the address of every transaction through an automated procedure.
Implement Damage Control if Credit Card Fraud Happens
The only way businesses can completely eliminate online credit card fraud or identity fraud is to not accept credit cards or online payments at all. This is obviously impossible as almost every consumer owns a credit card or prefers to shop online. Therefore, entirely eliminating fraud is an unlikely scenario for businesses as well as consumers. Businesses should be vigilant if any cases of card fraud surface. Firstly, it is always advisable to report the crime to the relevant authorities to take the appropriate action. You should always cooperate with them and provide them as much information about the crime as possible.
Also, be responsive to customers who have been affected by the fraud and provide them with any assistance you can. Listen to their case vigilantly and try to compensate them in any way you can.
Modern Credit Card Fraud Prevention Tools
The market for fraud prevention solutions has expanded over the years. Amidst the solutions currently available for credit card fraud protection, Shufti Pro has emerged as a leading Know Your Customer or KYC verification service provider. It is the best credit card protector for any business and provides a number of verification services to businesses.
It is a SaaS product that provides document verification, address verification and facial recognition services to businesses. Shufti Pro’s AI-based authentication software can verify customers within seconds. Credit card fraud prevention has never been easier. Through customer verifications, businesses can ensure that each of their transactions is legitimate.
