Credit Card Services and Security
If you are merchant who accepts credit cards, you will always be battling fraud. What seems to be a battle between good and evil, credit card services are always trying to stay one step ahead of the scammers and thieves who are constantly going after your information and money. As a merchant there are several things that you need to be aware of and take part in to help your credit card services combat these criminals.
There are many things you can do as a merchant to help your credit card services combat credit card fraud and one of the most important is to review all orders and transactions carefully. Taking a few seconds to investigate something that doesn’t seem right can save both you and your customer thousands of dollars, not the mention what you will save the credit card company involved. The easiest thing to do is to make sure the transaction passed the processors AVS check, which verifies the address of the cardholder.
Speaking of addresses, making sure any mail order or internet orders have the same or at least a non suspicious bill and ship address. For instance, if the billing address belongs to John Smith of Toronto but the shipping address is to Sergei Ivanov in Moscow, there is probably a problem and you should investigate this. Most of the credit card fraud that happens comes from Eastern Europe or Northern Africa so you should always pay attention to these transactions. If you are interested in doing a quick verification of your customer’s information, you can very quickly use many of the free online services like whitepages.com to check addresses and even phone numbers and names. It takes less than a minute and can save you a lot of money, stress and time.
Another way you can help your credit card services combat credit card fraud is to be suspicious of high volume orders that come in, especially if it is a first time order. If your first order with a new customer is huge compared to other customers, you should get in contact with the card holder to make sure the order is legitimate. You should especially get in touch with them if they are requesting overnight shipping. This is a dead giveaway in the world of fraud and something that should raise a red flag.
Calling the customer is always a better choice than letting a transaction go through. When in doubt you should always trust your instincts. Even if you are wrong, the customer will surely appreciate the extra diligence you are putting forth in your position. Credit card services are always fighting the good fight against fraud but they can’t always do it alone. Often times they depend on merchants, such as yourself, to take part in the action and serve on the front lines of combating fraud. By taking responsibility and using the information listed above, you will be a great help and make a difference in the lives of others.
