Eight steps
for merchants
to minimize credit card fraud

Credit card fraud cost Americans about $1 billion last year!

1) Begin taking a few extra steps to validate each order. Don't accept orders without complete customer information (including full address and phone number). We recommend you require Address Verification for all of your credit card orders.

2) Be wary of orders with different billing and residence or business addresses. We recommend you require anyone who uses different addresses to fax you a credit card authorization with their signature and credit card number.

3) Be especially careful with orders that come from free, web-based email services -- there is a much higher incidence of fraud from these services (hotmail.com, juno.com, usa.net, etc.). Many businesses won't even accept orders that come through these free email accounts anymore. That's because it's so easy for a scammers to open a free, anonymous email account in another person's name and then send you, the merchant, an order using the fake email account and a stolen  credit card number.

What precautions should you take with orders from free email accounts? We recommend sending an email requesting additional information before you process the order. More specifically, ask for: a non-free email address, the name and phone number of the bank that issued the credit card, the exact name on credit card, and the exact billing address. Often, you won't get a reply. If you do, you can easily verify the information (which you should take the time to do).

4) Be especially wary of orders or reservations that are larger than your typical order amount, and "urgent" reservations or orders (i.e. first-class seats for three from Accra, Ghana, to Dubai, tomorrow).

5) Pay extra attention to international orders. Do everything you can to validate the order before you ship your product to or accept a reservation from another country.

For foreign reservations, require a fax with images of both sides of the credit card and the identification page of the passport of the person named on the card, and a signed credit card authorization. If they're not legit, they'll disappear when you ask for this.

6) Always confirm orders or reservations, billing details, and all other details. Call the person whose name is on the card if they're not the person arranging the transaction. It can save you a lot of time, and money, in the long run.

7) Consider using software or services to fight credit card fraud online. We haven't tried any of these services. However, we have heard positive reviews from colleagues who have used Cybersource (http://www.cybersource.com/) and Clear Commerce Corp. (http://www.clearcommerce.com/)

8) If you (as a merchant) do have the misfortune of being scammed by a credit card thief, you should contact your merchant processor immediately and inform them of the situation. (Many people aren't even aware that their account number has been stolen.) You should also contact your bank, and law enforcement as well. You may need to contact your insurer.

Questions? Call us at 866-369-5982, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (MTZ), Monday to Saturday.