Credit card fraud was topped only by auction fraud as the most frequent complaint filed with the Internet Crime Complaint Center last year, accounting for about 5% of the complaints referred by the watchdog group to regulatory and law enforcement agencies. That’s a 22% drop from last year, the group reports.
That may be a function of greater awareness about how to protect credit card security online and at larger merchants, much of the anti-fraud effort is automated. Any business that hasn’t yet implemented software or services to fight credit card fraud online should consider doing so, recommends IC3, but the group also says best practices can help in prevention efforts.
Among them, IC3 recommends merchants don’t accept orders unless complete information is provided, including a full address and phone number. Address verification should be required of all credit card orders and businesses receiving credit card orders from anyone using different shipping and billing addresses should require a fax from the customer with the customer’s signature and credit card number authorizing the transaction.
IC3 recommends that merchants and other businesses be particularly careful about orders that come from free e-mail services. “There is a much higher incidence of fraud from these services. Many businesses won't even accept orders that come through free e-mail services anymore,” reports the group. If accepting such orders, a merchant should send an e-mail requesting additional information before processing the order, including a non-free e-mail address, the name and phone number of the bank that issues the credit card, the exact name on the card and the exact billing address.
Among other prevention tips offered by IC3 about processing credit card orders that arrive online:
--Take special care to scrutinize orders that are larger than the typical order and orders with next-day delivery.
--Validate international orders before shipping the order.
--Call the customer to confirm any orders that still seem suspicious.
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