Why Should you be Concerned with
Online Credit Card Fraud?

Your business should be concerned, or at least aware of the risks, if you are involved in e-commerce, mail, and/or phone order transactions. These transactions are exposed to a relatively high level of risk due to the fact that neither your customers nor their credit cards are physically present at the point of sale.

Criminals are often very intelligent. Educate yourself and utilize the items below to prevent them from stealing your products. Remember, complacency is a criminal's greatest ally.

The items listed below will provide insight into how you can reduce the potential for fraud, disputes, chargebacks, and the costly effects each of these have on your business. Rush Order monitors, manages, and prevents these costly problems on behalf of our clients on a daily basis. In fact, we are proven experts in the field. If you have questions or need assistance with any of these items, give us a call today at 800-522-5939. We are here to help.

Minimize your risk of incurring costly fraud, disputes, and chargebacks by using these helpful tips:

• Pay attention to the card type, number, and expiration date. Visa card numbers begin with a "4" and contain 13 or 16 digits. MasterCard card numbers begin with a "5" and contain 16 digits. American Express card numbers begin with a "3" and contain 15 digits. Discover card numbers begin with a "6" and contain 16 digits.
• To safegaurd data, always use a secure connection and/or encryption where applicable. Never send credit card information via email.
• Charge your sales as close to the ship date as possible. Never charge a credit card on an order that you know will not ship immediately. Customer complaints are directly correlated with the amount of time before or after the ship date you take to charge the card. When backorders begin building up for a lengthy period of time, you may want to send your customers an update on the status of their order.
• Use address verification systems (AVS) for domestic orders.
• These criminals typically know that a credit card is often audited with an Address Verification System. To circumvent this, these criminals are often capable of acquiring their victims bill-to addresses. Therefore, large distances between a customer's bill-to and ship-to addresses (usually belonging to the criminal) should raise a flag for concern. Require a bill-to and ship-to address. You may want to create an automated program based on zip codes that determines if the distance seems reasonable.
• Require a phone number. This can be used to notify customers of back order situations, call customers when their credit card is declined, and match area code and zip code proximity. A bill to phone number and address in different areas may be a flag for fraud.
• Require an email address upon order entry. This can be used to send order and shipment confirmations, notify customers of back order situations, and notify customers when their credit card is declined. Invalid email addresses are also a way to flag potential fraud.
• To reduce chargebacks, make sure the customer will recognize the name of your company or product on their bill. If your company operates under multiple names, make sure your customer will recognize the charge. Gear your website, customer service, and marketing materials such that they do not confuse customers as to whom they are purchasing from.
• For international orders, verify the IP address.
• Sticker your shipments with "do not re-route without shipper's authorization" text. Criminals frequently re-route shipments in transit to their desired locations in and outside of the United States. When the carrier receives a request to re-route, they should then contact the shipper for permission.
• Maintain vigilance and learn to spot and control the warning signs listed below. Create automated and manual processes for reviewing your orders.

Credit Card Fraud Warning Signs:

• The customer's information contains misspellings.
• The order is shipping to a PO Box. This may indicate a lack of permanent physical presence.
• Large dollar amounts shipping via an untraceable method such as first class mail.
• Large dollar amounts shipping via expedited shipping methods such as overnight delivery.
• Large dollar orders are something to be carefully inspected regardless of any other information in the order.
• Multiple orders by the same customer in a short time span.
• Orders containing free internet email addresses that seem to have no relevance to the person's actual name.
• Most automated fraud tools cannot validate foreign addresses. Review international orders and verify information via email (or phone) when the legitimacy of an order is in question.

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