Tim Parker asked:




With increasing frequency and intensity it’s happening and your credit is at risk. The attacks are getting more and more sophisticated and the thieves are becoming more widespread. They are working hard to stay a step ahead of law enforcement and they are largely successful. Your money, your credit, and your identity are at risk of being compromised by online credit card theft.

Did you know that more than 15 million people per year are victims of identity theft? Did you know that it takes an average of 600 hours of work for you to recover from identity theft? Did you know that online credit card theft costs our nation 500 million per year?

It’s clear that your identity and credit are at risk and the only way to protect it is to take actions on your own part. Here are five ways that will help you not fall victim to online credit card theft:

Only buy from companies with an actual mailing address- Websites come and go all the time and because of that, it is very easy for a scam to be executed and your money stolen and the website shut down very quickly. Businesses that sell merchandise have addresses. You should also verify this address.

Enter your credit card number in to secure websites only- Secure websites always start with HTTPS rather than HTTP. Your internet browser will also have a picture of a lock or some other graphic that will show you that you are in a secure environment.

Say no to work at home schemes- A lot of people are looking for work at home, get rich quick schemes and they are willing to give their credit card number to anybody promising quick riches. Online credit card theft often happens on the websites of thieves playing to the emotions of the average person.

Don’t give your credit card information as a response to an e-mail. No company will ask you to provide your credit card number through an e-mail. If a company e-mails you pointing you to a website to pay for something and it could be legitimate, don’t click on the link. Instead, go to the website and log in to your account.

Get an online identity theft prevention service. Online credit card theft can be prevented by paying a small monthly fee for identity monitoring. A company that you know and trust like Equifax is the perfect place to get this service.

The thieves are going to keep attacking and you may be next. At the very least, an attack would be less than convenient. At worst, it may wipe out your child’s college savings that you have contributed to for years or your retirement money. It’s easy to prevent by enrolling in a protection service like Equifax.

Jeffery

Katie T. Hammond asked:




Chargeback fees in credit card processing services can cost any business a significant amount of money. This fee is charged when the buyer contests a charge on his or her credit card. Of course, mistakes happen. Chargeback is an unavoidable part of the business, but when it happens too often, it becomes a business risk. Because credit associations penalize financial institutions when they continue to cover the merchant account of a business with high chargeback occurrences, it could cost you your merchant account.

Still, even without the risk of losing your merchant account, chargeback can cut into your profits. Here are ways to reduce credit card processing chargeback fees for online stores:

• Be wary of late night orders. In online businesses, fraud happens mostly at night. This means you are more likely to experience a chargeback for transactions done during the night time. It’s not exactly wise to open an online store operation only during the day. Still, be cautious of late night purchasers and verify those with extremely suspicious accounts.

• Encourage consumers to go directly to you in case of service or purchase problems. This way, your customer wouldn’t go to his or her credit card issuer, thus preventing a credit card processing chargeback fee. Have a flexible return policy works so you and the card issuer wouldn’t have to do refunds.

• Setting a credit limit. Identity thieves usually order large amounts of an item at go. Therefore, it would be a great security procedure to set a credit limit on your store. When the purchaser exceeds it, do an independent verification. Call the cardholder to make sure he is indeed making the purchase.

• Do a follow-up after every purchase. Send an e-mail asking if the item purchased was to the customer’s liking.

• Be wary of purchases from foreign countries. Check out trading news to know what country frauds and thieves use as their base. This changes constantly, so be aware. Also, make an independent verification when the credit card of a US cardholder is used from another country-and whatever country.

• Make a database. Record the credit card details, together with phone numbers and addresses of customers that caused a chargeback more than once.

Raymond

Sam Qam asked:




Online purchasing has in recent years skyrocketed into a massive industry with millions of purchases being made online everyday from a vast variety of online retailers. However, this massive influx of internet purchasing has brought with it a vast increase of online credit card fraud and fraudulent sites. Thousands of online shoppers have their details stolen online and as a result loose thousands of pounds to fraudsters. But how can these thieves be caught out and how do you protect yourself?

In the online marketplace it’s a little more complicated than someone lifting your wallet out of your back pocket and there are no 100% methods of ensuring you’re completely safe. There are however steps you can take to reduce the risks.

First and foremost ensure that the sites you are using are secure. It’s always better to use a site that you know a friend has been using successfully for some time or a site that is advertised widely such as Amazon or Play.com. These are large sites with thousands of users, so they will have to provide the most secure methods possible for transactions. If you come across a site you haven’t heard of before then make sure you check up on it before providing your details to them.

You should NEVER provide details by email. Any respectable site will have a secure customer accounts process and won’t resort to emails. Emails are easily intercepted by fraudsters so you should never put your card or personal details in an email whether to a business or a friend.

If you are using your card online then try to make sure your bank or credit card provider offers fraud and credit card theft cover and insurance. There are a variety of credit card companies such as Egg who provide cover specifically for online shopping.

When creating an account with a company make sure that you provide a secure email that only you have access to. Also, when choosing a password, ensure that it contains both numbers and letters and is over a certain length (the minimum length for most respectable sights is over eight characters). Ensure that you do not pick anything too generic or easily guessed and don’t let other people use your site.

Respectable online retailers use secure payment gateways for online credit card processing making them more reliable and secure. With these methods and some well applied common sense your online shopping can be more secure allowing you to browse with some measure of confidence.

Jacqueline

elementaryfinance asked:


With increasing frequency and intensity it’s happening and your credit is at risk. The attacks are getting more and more sophisticated and the thieves are becoming more widespread. They are working hard to stay a step ahead of law enforcement and they are largely successful. Your money, your credit, and your identity are at risk of being compromised by online credit card theft.

Did you know that more than 15 million people per year are victims of identity theft? Did you know that it takes an average of 600 hours of work for you to recover from identity theft? Did you know that online credit card theft costs our nation 500 million per year?

It’s clear that your identity and credit are at risk and the only way to protect it is to take actions on your own part. Here are five ways that will help you not fall victim to online credit card theft:

Only buy from companies with an actual mailing address- Websites come and go all the time and because of that, it is very easy for a scam to be executed and your money stolen and the website shut down very quickly. Businesses that sell merchandise have addresses. You should also verify this address.

 

Enter your credit card number in to secure websites only- Secure websites always start with HTTPS rather than HTTP. Your internet browser will also have a picture of a lock or some other graphic that will show you that you are in a secure environment.

 

Say no to work at home schemes- A lot of people are looking for work at home, get rich quick schemes and they are willing to give their credit card number to anybody promising quick riches. Online credit card theft often happens on the websites of thieves playing to the emotions of the average person.

 

Don’t give your credit card information as a response to an e-mail. No company will ask you to provide your credit card number through an e-mail. If a company e-mails you pointing you to a website to pay for something and it could be legitimate, don’t click on the link. Instead, go to the website and log in to your account.

 

Get an online identity theft prevention service. Online credit card theft can be prevented by paying a small monthly fee for identity monitoring. A company that you know and trust like Equifax is the perfect place to get this service.

 

The thieves are going to keep attacking and you may be next. At the very least, an attack would be less than convenient. At worst, it may wipe out your child’s college savings that you have contributed to for years or your retirement money. It’s easy to prevent by enrolling in a protection service like Equifax.

 



RYAN