Fight back when fraud strikes, security expert urges

A retail site hit with a fraudulent transaction must fight the fraud if it wants to avoid being marked as easy prey, Julie Fergerson, vice president of emerging technologies at Clear Commerce Group, says. “Once a fraudster figures out he can commit fraud on your web site, he will continue to commit fraud until you stop him,” Fergerson says in an upcoming article in Internet Retailer. “Additionally, he will educate all his friends on how to commit fraud against you.”

Fergerson says there are three important steps a retailer must take when fighting fraud:

--Document the fraudulent order so the retailer can build a case,

--Create a negative file to prevent future fraudulent orders from the same source,

--Report the crime to the police.

Furthermore, Fergerson urges retailers to go after attempted fraud as well as actual fraud and to create a fraud expert inhouse so that customer service, marketing or other untrained personnel don’t have to deal with fraud. “It is best to have a single person or group handle these types of activities,” she says. “The patterns, questions and responses will be typical, and gut instinct will help fight a lot of fraud.”