Top Ways to Prevent Online Payment Fraud

Consider what you could do with $3.5 billion. As an eCommerce business owner, you could more than likely get a lot done with even a small percentage of that massive lump sum of money. That is actually the same amount of revenue that was lost by eCommerce retailers within the United States in 2012 alone because of online payment fraud. The average percentage of fraudulent orders placed online was 0.8 percent for eCommerce and 1.4 percent for mobile eCommerce during the same time period, according to InternetRetailer.com. Fortunately, there are several ways that you can prevent online payment fraud from affecting your bottom line.

Verify All Orders Manually

It may seem tedious and time-consuming, but manually verifying your online orders might be the key to preventing your business from being defrauded. Call each customer to ensure that their order was legitimate, or at least send them a confirmation e-mail. You might even want to conduct a reverse lookup on the customer’s phone number to make sure that it matches the correct zip code for that specific area, according to TrustCommerce.com. Always view orders that were purchased with foreign credit cards that are shipping locally as a red flag of fraudulence.

Verify All CVV2 and CVC2 Numbers

A vital security feature for online payments that are completed with a credit or debit card with a Visa or MasterCard logo is the CVV2 or CVC2 number. These three-digit numbers are printed on the back of the card within the signature panel. If the customer is using an American Express card, the verification number will be four digits long. Checking for these numbers within your online checkout process will verify that the customer actually has that specific card in their possession and that it is a legitimate account, according to WebInc.com. By using an online payment solution or gateway, such as a payment gateway or PayPal, you will not have to worry about manual verification because these systems will complete of this task on your behalf.

Block Fraud for Additional Protection

There are quite a few different payment solutions available online today that will allow you to establish a protective list that will block the IP addresses and countries that are primary sources of fraudulent transactions conducted online. Do not rush too quickly to place an entire country on a block list, because you could be blocking the honest and trustworthy customers that live there by doing so. Make sure that you focus on such key factors as your industry, buying patterns, and main demographic when deciding what belongs within your company’s block list.

Prepare Now and Not Later

Keep in mind that online fraudulence is just one of the many different types of cybercrimes that have become prevalent in the world today. As time goes on, it is only going to get worse. Therefore, it is essential that you stay prepared now instead of later. Make sure that your eCommerce website is fully equipped with everything that it needs to keep your company protected from any type of fraudulence in the future.

About Jen Perkins

Likes: saving money, being debt free (aside from our house), zombies, travel, getting money, blogging and dogs. Dislikes: debt, being broke, bunnies, wasting money, not having enough money to travel the world and paying interest. Facebook  ♥  Twitter  ♥  Google+  ♥  RSS

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