Every year more than $20 billion are lost due to fraud during the online payment process. These issues can be devastating for businesses and leave them in financial trouble if not taken care of quickly. If you’re not careful, they can come out of nowhere and cost your overall bottom line.
That’s why it’s crucial to set your company up with as much ecommerce fraud protection as possible.
The thing about fraud and scams is that they’re always changing, so you have to do your best to keep up and stay alert. We’ve created a guide to help you with our top six fraud protection tips for companies.
1. Gather All Information from Customers
A very basic but absolutely crucial way to handle fraud prevention in all of your ecommerce interactions is to make sure you gather all of the necessary information. Credit and debit cards have several identifiers, so requiring more than one of them is a great way to verify authenticity.
Most interactions at the very least require the card number and expiration date. We suggest also asking for the CVV, which is the security number found on the back of the card.
This number is the best way to ensure that the customer has the actual card, which significantly reduces fraudulent charges. Most scammers have stolen the card number but not the physical card, which would be the only way to get that CVV number. Many people prefer online banking and shopping because of its convenience and this is a great way to keep them safe as well.
2. But Not Too Much Information
While it’s a great idea to gather information to prevent fraud, there’s a fine line that you should be careful of as well. Companies that collect a lot of sensitive, personal information from their customers become higher targets for fraud.
Things like social security numbers, emails, addresses, and birthdates are common identifiers that hackers are looking for to gain access to accounts.
When you avoid getting and storing this kind of information, you decrease your desirability to those attacks. But sometimes that information is necessary, when that is the case it’s important to do all you can to protect it and safeguard against attacks.
3. Update Technology and Tools
Hackers never stick to a scam for very long, they are always inventing new ways to gain access to information and commit fraud. That’s why it’s so important to continually update your software and make sure your tools are as up-to-date as possible.
An easy way to make sure you do this is by using a helpful merchant service provider. These companies have a lot of experience in the field and can make a big difference in how you run your business. The company you choose to work with should have some fraud protection strategies in place that you can automatically take advantage of.
Beyond that, it’s a good idea to check in with other tool and software providers to see what has changed in their offerings to stay current.
4. Follow Industry Standards
Along the same lines, it’s a good idea to keep up with industry leaders and follow their example when it comes to security. Fraud protection companies are doing all of the research to figure out where and how these scams are happening to give the best defensive recommendations.
When you link to these kinds of leaders, you can take advantage of the knowledge without having to take the time to figure it out yourself. You can also learn from others’ experiences and be put on to different ways of thinking at the same time.
Unfortunately, fraud is always going to be a part of any business so it’s a good idea to dedicate at least some of your company’s resources to prevent it.
5. Require Employee Training
True, lasting, and effective fraud prevention doesn’t start and end with one employee of the company. For the best results, every employee should be trained on how to minimize this kind of damage.
It’s also important that these trainings don’t just happen once but, instead, are a regular occurrence to keep these practices at the forefront of their minds. When employees are given specific instructions, it empowers them to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and also to raise other red flags they may be seeing.
These trainings are also a great opportunity to share what your fraud experts are learning from the industry leaders.
6. Continually Check-In
There are some tasks in running a business that can be done once and then forgotten. Fraud prevention and protection isn’t one of them. This is an area that needs to be revisited very often to make sure all of your bases are still covered.
We recommend running a monthly (at least) security check. This allows you to find any holes throughout your system and plan, whether they be a bug or something that was completely overlooked. In all security, the quicker you find a problem, the less damage that can be done.
While it may seem like a pain to have to continually be checking and worrying about your fraud protection plan, it will actually give you more peace of mind as you know you’re doing everything you can to protect your company.
Ecommerce Fraud Protection Strategies to Try
As a business owner, you work hard for every dollar that comes in. The last thing you need or want is for some of that to be lost due to deception and fraud. For everyone’s peace of mind, it’s best to set up ecommerce fraud protection on every purchase.
Luckily, a few simple steps and steady vigilance will help you keep your company safe and protected. It doesn’t take a lot to protect your assets but it is important to take the steps and do the work. You’ll be so grateful you did when you avoid losing money and get to enjoy your success!
If you’re interested in hearing more about safe, secure banking options for your business with our merchant services partner, contact us today!
