Sameer (name changed) is a businessman who has always been prudent with his money. Whenever he used his credit card, he ensured that he would pay his dues back immediately.
He also made sure that he never used his credit card for expensive purchases, using cash instead. Imagine his unpleasant surprise, when he got a credit card bill showing that he had used up his entire credit limit.
On checking his statement, he saw purchases that he had never made. He went through hell trying to making payments over those purchases. Apparently, Sameer was the victim of credit card fraud.
Credit card frauds are on the rise these days. The credit card number, the Card Verification Value (CVV) or the Card Security Code (CSC), date of birth, credit card limit, residential address (stored on your card's magnetic tape) is all that is needed for someone to misuse your credit card.
Being vigilant while using your credit card is the only way of preventing fraud. Here are some tips.
Card Verification Value (CVV) or the Card Security Code (CSC)
The CSC or CVV number is a security feature for credit or debit card transactions, giving increased protection against credit card fraud. It is not embossed like the card number, and is always a group of numbers printed on the back signature panel of the card.
This provides a level of protection to the bank/card holder, in that a corrupt merchant cannot simply capture the magnetic stripe details of a card and use them later for 'card not present' purchases over the phone, mail order or Internet.
Whenever you use your card, always ensure that the transaction is completed in front of you and that no details are written down by the merchant. Do not provide photocopies of both sides of the credit card to anyone.
The card verification value (CVV) which is required for online transactions is printed on the reverse of the card. Anyone can use the card for online purchases if the information is available with them.
Using cards online
When using your credit cards for making purchases online:
* Ensure that Web site is a secure site. This can be done by checking whether the site is secured by a reputable net authentication agency like VeriSign.
* Do not click on links in e-mail seeking details of your account; they could be phishing e-mails from fraudsters. Most reputed companies will ask you to visit their Web site directly.
* Do not give out your credit card details on unknown or suspicious Web sites.
Stolen card and suspicious transactions
The first and foremost thing to do, after you have confirmed that you have lost your wallet or card or have seen suspicious transactions on your credit card statement, is to call up the bank's 24-hour call centre and deactivate the card or inform the customer service representative about the suspicious transactions.
The representative will help you file a complaint in regard to this. In case of lost cards, check if any transactions have been made on the card and if there are any; inform the bank about the ones that are not yours.
This has to be done within a particular number of days which varies between 30 and 60 days according to different banks.
Some general tips
* On receipt of a new card ensure that it is in sealed condition and that the seal is not tampered with.
* Sign on the back of your new card as soon as you receive it.
* Monitor your account regularly either on the Internet or from call centers. Also subscribe to e-mail and mobile alerts to keep track of card usage.
* Memorize your card's PIN number.
* Destroy and dispose all documents that mention the card number, such as copies of receipts, airline tickets, travel itineraries, etc.
* Personal account information should never be shared with anyone unless payment for the purchase is being done from that account.
Another important thing is keeping any useful information such as card number, expiry date, CVV number, and pin number, etc of your cards handy.
However, that does not mean that you keep the information in places where it is easily accessible. Protect your card information as you would protect your money.
Finally, always stay at least 40 per cent below your credit limit and review your account information either online or through the credit card company's call center frequently. This will help you identify any suspicious transactions immediately.
Credit cards, though an easy way to have access to money without carrying around a lot of cash can become a big liability if not used prudently and carefully. Ensure that you use the card responsibly.
http://www.rediff.com/
Safe From Credit Card Fraud
Minimize credit card fraud
1) Ask for picture identification with every purchase.
For online/over the telephone orders; take a few extra steps to validate each order. Don't accept orders unless complete information is provided - require address verification for credit card orders.
2) Be wary of orders with different "bill to" and "ship to" addresses -- require anyone who uses a different addresses to send a fax with their signature and credit card number authorizing the transaction.
3) Be careful with orders that come from free email services -- there is a much higher incidence of fraud from these services. Many businesses won't even accept orders that come through free email accounts anymore. It's easy for a scammer to open a free, anonymous email account in another person's name and then send you, the business, an order using the fake email account and a fraudulent credit card number.
4) Be careful of orders that are larger than your typical order amount, and orders with next day delivery. Crooks don't care what it costs, since they aren't planning on paying for it anyway.
5) Pay extra attention to international orders and validate the order before you ship your product to a different country.
6) If you're suspicious, pick up the phone and call the customer to confirm the order.
7) Consider using software or services that can help you fight credit card fraud online.
8) If you the business are scammed by a credit card thief, contact your merchant processor immediately and inform them of the situation.
Credit Card Fraud Prevention Tips:
1. Keep an eye on your credit card every time you use it, and make sure you get it back as quickly as possible. Try not to let your credit card out of your sight whenever possible.
2. Be very careful of who you give your credit card. Don't give out your account number over the phone unless you initiate the call and you know the company is reputable. Never give your credit card info out when you receive a phone call. (For example, if you're told there has been a 'computer problem' and the caller needs you to verify information.) Legitimate companies don't call you to ask for a credit card number over the phone.
3. Never respond to emails that request you provide your credit card info via email -- and don't ever respond to emails that ask you to go to a website to verify personal (and credit card) information. These are called 'phishing' scams.
4. Never provide your credit card information on a website that is not a secure site.
5. Sign your credit cards as soon as you receive them. Many cops write "check ID" on the back of their cards.
6. Shred all credit card applications you receive.
7. Don't write your PIN number on your credit card -- or have it anywhere near your credit card.
8. Never leave your credit cards or receipts lying around.
9. Shield your credit card number so that others around you can't copy it or capture it on a cell phone or surveillance cameras.
10. Keep a list in a secure place with all of your account numbers and expiration dates, as well as the phone number and address of each bank that has issued you a credit card. Keep this list updated.
By Alison Rauch
An Inside Look at Credit Card Fraud
Since 2005, hackers and thieves have stolen more that 140 million credit card numbers, which resulted in $67 billion in annual losses. Credit card fraud and identity theft are running rampant and will probably only get worse with the troubled worldwide economy.
Do you ever wonder how crooks obtain access to credit card information that allows them to use stolen cards? The network of credit card fraudsters is worldwide in nature and is driven by a relatively small number of sophisticated hackers and thieves.
We found a fascinating article published by Wired Magazine called One Hacker’s Audacious Plan to Rule the Black Market in Stolen Credit Cards. The article goes into detail about how one entrepreneurial hacker tried to take over the business of trafficking stolen credit card numbers. This is an article that is well worth the time to read from start to finish.
The article focuses on the criminal career of a very knowledgeable and ingenious hacker named Max who launched a plan to take over the carders marketplace, which includes a number of underground web sites where criminals buy and sell stolen credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and other data essential for credit card fraud and identity theft. Some of these web sites have thousands of members. The culprit hacked the major carders sites and after stealing all of their ill-gotten data and member lists, consolidated it into his own web site where he sold the data.
Buyers and sellers of credit card numbers are global in nature and can be found in almost every country. A recent 2008 bust of one network of card hackers found that 41 million credit card numbers had been stolen. Members of the gang included hackers from the USA, Ukraine, China, Estonia and Belarus.
The article is essentially a tutorial and an inside look into how credit card fraud occurs. It is no longer just a simple matter of a waiter or waitress stealing a carbon copy of a credit card receipt or taking a snapshot with a cell phone. Today they may have pocket-sized credit card skimmers that capture the information from the magnetic stripe on the back of a card. This information is called a dump and is very valuable, because the information is from a verified valid card that may be used to fraudulently purchase goods online before the customer leaves the restaurant.
Credit card information is spread across so many networks that it is difficult to secure the data. Max and his crew also went after primary sources of data, such as banks and credit unions. He used the FDIC’s web site to target small banks and credit institutions that were not likely to have sophisticated security in place.
The team managed to produce physical credit cards using stolen numbers. The cards were complete with raised numbers and holograms. The phony cards were then used to purchase luxury goods, such as expensive ladies leather handbags, shoes, watches, etc., that could easily be fenced or sold on eBay.
There was no shortage of guts with Max and his associates. At one point, they send e-mails to several employees at Capital One. The e-mail provided a link and indicated that their name was mentioned in a report that ran in Financial Edge regarding a leak of customer records from Capital One. Financial Edge was one of Max’s phony web sites and when employees at Capital Once clicked on the link to view the article, they were presented with a blank screen. While they were wondering what that meant, Max send malicious scripts through the employees Internet connection to Capital One’s systems. The exploit was discovered and stopped, and there wasn’t any leak of customer information, but there could have been if Capital One did not identify and stop the hack attempted by Max.
Max was eventually busted and now faces 30 years to life in prison. His sentence will be particularly harsh due to new sentencing laws for credit card fraud, and also due to the fact that he had been busted and imprisoned multiple times in the past for credit card theft and similar crimes. Every time he got out of prison, it didn’t take long before Max was back doing what he did best–finding more sophisticated methods for stealing credit card information.
For every credit card scammer who gets caught and put behind bars, there are hundreds or possibly thousands of other credit card hackers who do not get caught or are operating in countries beyond the reach of western governments. The bottom line is that you can do everything in your power to protect your identity and your credit card numbers, but there are always ways for hackers to obtain the information that are beyond your control. It is wise to scrutinize your credit card statement every month and report any suspected case of credit card fraud to the credit card company.
http://www.homedefensehq.com/
FBI tips for avoiding internet fraud
Chicago's one from the finest lawyers, Peter S. Lubin & Fraud Consumer lawyer, Vincent Ditomasso had wrote a very good articles regarding FBI tips for consumers to avoid internet fraud.
The FBI maintains a number from web pages on fraud & internet fraud topics. The FBI web page on internet fraud provides tips for avoiding those scams "to protect yourself & your family from various forms from Internet fraud." The following are the tips provided on the FBI's web page:
- Avoiding Internet Auction Fraud
Understand as much as possible about how the auction works, what your obligations are as a buyer, & what the seller's obligations are before you bid. - Find out what actions the web site/company takes if a problem occurs & consider insuring the transaction & shipment.
- Learn as much as possible about the seller, especially if the only information you have is an e-mail address. If it is a business, check the Better Business Bureau where the seller/business is located.
- Examine the feedback on the seller.
- Determine what method from payment the seller is asking from the buyer & where he/she is asking to send payment.
- If a problem occurs with the auction transaction, it could be much more difficult if the seller is located outside the US because from the difference in laws.
- Ask the seller about when delivery can be expected & if there is a problem with the merchandise is it covered by a warranty or can you exchange it.
- Find out if shipping & delivery are included in the auction price or are additional costs so there are no unexpected costs.
- There should be no reason to give out your social security number or drivers license number to the seller.
Avoiding Non-Delivery from Merchandise
- Make sure you are purchasing merchandise from a reputable source.
- Do your homework on the individual or company to ensure that they are legitimate. Try to obtain a physical address rather than merely a post fromfice box & a phone number, call the seller to see if the number is correct & working.
- Send them e-mail to see if they have an active e-mail address & be wary from sellers who use free e-mail services where a credit card wasn’t required to open the account.
- Consider not purchasing from sellers who won't provide you with this type from information.
- Check with the Better Business Bureau from the seller’s area.
- Check out other web sites regarding this person/company.
- Don’t judge a person/company by their web site.
- Be cautious when responding to special fromfers (especially through unsolicited e-mail).
- Be cautious when dealing with individuals/companies from outside your own country.
Inquire about returns & warranties. - The safest way to purchase items via the Internet is by credit card because you can fromten dispute the charges if something is wrong.
- Make sure the transaction is secure when you electronically send your credit card numbers.
- Consider utilizing an escrow or alternate payment service.
Avoiding Credit Card Fraud
- Don't give out your credit card number(s) online unless the site is a secure & reputable site. Sometimes a tiny icon from a padlock appears to symbolize a higher level from security to transmit data. This icon is not a guarantee from a secure site, but might provide you some assurance.
- Don't trust a site just because it claims to be secure.
- Before using the site, check out the security/encryption sfromtware it uses.
- Make sure you are purchasing merchandise from a reputable source.
- Do your homework on the individual or company to ensure that they are egitimate.
- Try to obtain a physical address rather than merely a post fromfice box & a phone number, call the seller to see if the number is correct & working.
- Send them e-mail to see if they have an active e-mail address & be wary from sellers who use free e-mail services where a credit card wasn’t required to open the account.
- Consider not purchasing from sellers who won't provide you with this type from information.
Check with the Better Business Bureau from the seller’s area. - Check out other web sites regarding this person/company. Don’t judge a person/company by their web site.
- Be cautious when responding to special fromfers (especially through unsolicited e-mail).
- Be cautious when dealing with individuals/companies from outside your own country.
- The safest way to purchase items via the Internet is by credit card because you can from then dispute the charges if something is wrong.
- Make sure the transaction is secure when you electronically send your credit card numbers.
- You should also keep a list from all your credit cards & account information along with the card issuer’s contact information. If anything looks suspicious or you lose your credit card(s) you should contact the card issuer immediately.
Avoiding Investment Fraud
- Don't invest in anything based on appearances. Just because an individual or company has a flashy web site doesn't mean it is legitimate. Web sites can be created in just a few days. After a short period from taking money, a site can vanish without a trace.
- Don’t invest in anything you are not absolutely sure about. Do your homework on the investment to ensure that it is legitimate.
- Do your homework on the individual or company to ensure that they are legitimate.
- Check out other web sites regarding this person/company.
- Don’t judge a person/company by their web site.
- Be cautious when responding to special investment fromfers (especially through unsolicited e-mail).
- Be cautious when dealing with individuals/companies from outside your own country.
- Inquire about all the terms & conditions.
- If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
Avoiding Business Fraud
- Purchase merchandise from reputable dealers or establishments.
- Try to obtain a physical address rather than merely a post fromfice box & a phone number, call the seller to see if the number is correct & working.
- Send them e-mail to see if they have an active e-mail address & be wary from those that utilize free e-mail services where a credit card wasn't required to open the account.
- Consider not purchasing from sellers who won't provide you with this type from information.
- Purchase merchandise directly from the individual/company that holds the trademark, copyright, or patent.
- Beware when responding to e-mail that may not have been sent by a reputable company.
Avoiding the Nigerian Letter Scam
- Be skeptical from individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government from officials asking for your help in placing large sums from money in overseas bank accounts.
- Do not believe the promise from large sums from money for your cooperation.
- Guard your account information carefully.
New generation of Russian hackers pose a global threat
Not long ago, the simple, anonymous thrill of exposing chinks in American software was enough of a payoff for a Russian hacker.
Today it ’s cash. And almost all the targets are in the United States and Europe, where Russia ’s notorious hackers pilfer online bank accounts, swipe Social Security numbers, steal credit card data and peek at e-mail log-ins and passwords as part of what some estimate to be a US$100 billion-a-year global cybercrime business.
Arid when it ’s not money that drives Russian hackers, it ’s politics with the aim of accessing or disabling the computers, websites and security systems of governments opposed to Russian interests.
That may have been the motive behind a recent attack on Pentagon computers.
A new generation of Russian hacker is behind America ’s latest criminal scourge.
Young~ intelligent and wealthy enough to zip down Moscow ’s boulevards in shiny BMWs, they make their money in cybercubbyholes that police have found impossible to ferret out.
From behind the partition of anonymous online hacking forums, they boast about why they use their program savvy to spam and steal, mostly from the west.
~Why should I take a regular job after graduating and exert myself to earn just US$2,000 a month, rather than grab this chance to make money?" says a Russian hacker on a cybercrime forum that specialises in credit card fraud.
~1t makes sense to get as much as you can, as quickly as possible, rather than wasting time working for someone else." Cybercrime, by some estimates, has outpaced the amount of illicit cash raked in by global drug trafficking. Hackers from Russia and China are among the chief culprits, and the threat they pose now extends far beyond spain, identity theft and bank heists. Besides the recent attack on computers at the US Defence Department which may have originated in Russia, according to military leaders in Washington, Russian hackers are also believed to be behind highly co-ordinated attacks that brought down government websites in Estonia in 2007 and in US-allied Georgia when war broke out between Russian and Georgian forces in August.
They are even suspected of hacking into the computer systems of Barack Obama and John McCain during the US presidential campaign; technical experts hired by Mr Obama ’s campaign suspected the attacks may have come from Russia or China, according to Newsweek.
So far there has been no evidence of a link between the Russian government and any of the attacks on American, Georgian and Estonian websites and computers.
Nevertheless, the need to step up security of American cyberspace is being discussed with greater urgency in Washington. Last month, a commission on cyber-security delivered a report to Congress calling for the creation of a new White House office that would gird the US against computer attacks from hackers and foreign governments.
According to the commission, unimown foreign entities" in 2007 hacked computers at the departments of defence, homeland security and commerce, as well as Nasa. Hackers broke into Defence Secretary Robert Gates ’ unclassified e-mail and probed Defence Department computers "hundreds of thousands of times each day", said the commission, a panel of leading government and computer industry experts.
A senior State Department official told the commission that the department had lost thousands of gigabytes of data due to computer attacks, and among the homeland security divisions reporting computer break-ins was the Transportation SecurityAdministration, which provides airport security.
After the Soviet collapse in 1991, Russian hackers were primarily motivated by mischief. Now, most hackers in Russia are in it strictly for the money. Cybercrime gangs approach computer program graduates from Moscow ’s technical universities with offers of making sums of US$5,000 to US$7,000 a month, a far cry from Russia ’s average monthly salary of US$640, says Nikita Kislitsyn, editor of Hacker, a glossy Russian magazine with how-to information for budding hackers.
Russian police departments have cybercrime divisions, but arrests of major cybercriminals are rare.
"It comes down to a question of volume," said Steve Santorelli, investigations director at Team Cymru, a Burr Ridge, Illinois-based internet security research firm. "In Russia, there simply aren ’t the resources." McClatchy-Trjbune
New Sunday Post,
Hong Kong
ID check leads to alleged credit card fraud
Alert police arrest woman at Park Royal
A chance encounter at the mall led West Vancouver police to uncover an alleged credit card fraud and identity theft operation in Vancouver on Dec. 20.
A New Westminster woman has been charged with fraud and possessing stolen property in connection with the investigation.
"Everything's really bizarre in how it came together," said police spokesman Cpl. Fred Harding.
A pair of astute police officers on duty at Park Royal Shopping Centre recognized Heidi Mills, 35, as someone suspected of criminal activity throughout the Lower Mainland.
The two constables were called to the mall at about 7 p.m. to remove a man who had refused to leave a store and was yelling loudly. Not long after they arrived, Mills approached the officers -- she knew the noisy man, and had been with him earlier that day.
"One of the officers immediately recognized who she was," Harding said.
After a search, the constables discovered that Mills was carrying allegedly stolen credit cards and fraudulent identification. They followed her to her pickup truck, where they noticed several newly purchased items that they now believe had been purchased with stolen credit cards.
Later that day, police searched a rooming house in the 3500-block of Kingsway in Vancouver, and found about 20 complete identity packages, including credit cards.
"They found everything to create fraudulent identities such as names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, social insurance numbers and credit cards," said Harding.
Officers seized a laptop computer with a printer attached, which they believe was used to create the phony IDs. They also seized boxes of electronics, toys and DVDs, all allegedly purchased with fraudulent identification.
"This is one of those mixtures of great police work, great timing, and just everything was coming into play," Harding said. "We have removed, hopefully for some time, the kind of person who preys on the vulnerable and those who least expect it, which is you and me."
Mills is also facing charges of unlawful confinement, robbery, assault with a weapon, uttering threats, and breaking and entering, all related to a separate incident in Vancouver.
She made her second appearance on both sets of charges in Vancouver provincial court on Dec. 23. The police investigation into the fraud operation is continuing. Police suspect that other people might have been involved.
Australia new soft target for criminals
POLICE are investigating possible links between a Malaysian criminal organisation and the discovery of hundreds of counterfeit credit cards and machines used in their productionin southeast Queensland.
While police believe credit card fraud is a growing problem worldwide, Detective Superintendent Brian Hay from the state fraud and corporate crime group said activity originating in Malaysia was of particular concern to investigators in Australia.
"Malaysia has been an epicentre for card skimming operations and counterfeit card production for some years now," he said.
"Since the Malaysian Government introduced chip/PIN technology on their credit cards within Malaysia they (the criminal groups) have had to look for other places to ply their trade." Det-Supt Hay said although police had been investigating the most recent cases of alleged fraud for several months, investigators had been aware of Malaysians linked to co-ordinated crime syndicates operating in Australia since 2000.
"We are seeing more activity, however, in the last 12 months.
Australia still predominantly relying on magnetic striped data on our credit cards makes us a soft target."
Gold Coast Bulletin,
Queensland,Australia
Avoid Becoming a Victim of Credit Card Fraud
Credit card fraud has become a major problem over recent years, and every year many people fall victim to this type of fraud.
Often this is through no fault of their own, but in some cases the reason why people fall victim to credit card fraud is because they have been careless with their credit card details, which is something that fraudsters prey on.
With credit card fraud levels still rife it is vital that cardholders are more careful with their details, as otherwise the risk of becoming a victim of card fraud is all the greater.
Certain types of credit card fraud levels are greater than others, and this includes CNP or Card Not Present fraud, which is where the credit card is not needed to conduct a transaction such as with online or telephone purchases made by credit card.
With an increasing number of people shopping online for various items from groceries to clothes and entertainment it is vital that more caution is exercised with online credit card transactions.
This includes ensuring that the site you use is a secure site, and also not linking to websites from emails and then putting in your card details. You should also avoid saving your card details on any sites that you purchase from if you have a shared computer, as this can also heighten the risk of becoming a victim of credit card fraud if someone with dishonourable intentions gets hold of the details.
Another thing to be careful of with your credit card is ordering or making purchases by phone. You should never give out your credit card details to someone who has called you out of the blue stating that they are from some company or other, because unless you have phoned the firm yourself you actually have no idea who you are talking to.
Also, be careful about shouting out your credit card details on the phone when there are other people around that you don't know as this could result in someone getting hold of your details.
One thing that many people do is dispose of their credit card statements by simply throwing them in the waste paper basket, which then gets emptied into black bags and put outside ready for collection day.
However, some fraudsters will go as far as to search through bin bags in order to find documentation such as this, which they then use to commit card fraud. You need to ensure that you shred all credit card statements and dispose of them carefully in order to avoid this happening.
Many credit cards now offer increased levels of protection and security against fraud.
This can include offering fraud guarantees that offer a zero liability policy if your credit card details are used without your knowledge or consent.
Credit card providers have now started offering identity theft protection services, including Barclaycard credit cards and Capital One credit cards.
Capital One credit cards, including the Capital One Classic credit card, also offer free access to Equifax alerts – sending you an alert if anything changes on your credit file and also offering you two free Equifax credit reports per year.
Whether you need a bad credit rating credit card or a mainstream credit card - you should be able to compare credit cards and improve the level of security against fraud offered by your credit card company.
Credit-card grace time can save you money
It's hardly a secret that credit-card companies are always looking for ways to squeeze money out of customers.
That means consumers must always look for ways to hold on to their money.
Many consumers focus on interest rates, but another thing to consider is the grace period — the time you have before a card company starts charging interest on new purchases.
Some issuers have been shortening grace periods or changing grace-period rules.
The average grace period among the top 10 credit-card issuers is 22 days, according to the 2007 Credit Card Survey by Consumer Action, a nonprofit, membership-based organization that advocates for consumer rights.
That's down from 30 days several years ago, said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com.
To keep your interest payments to a minimum, it's important to understand the grace period for each of your cards.
There are basically three types of grace periods, according to American Express.
With a typical grace period, you pay interest on all new purchases immediately, unless you have paid your previous month's bill in full.
A card with a full grace period means the average daily interest calculation doesn't include new purchases made that month.
And a card with no grace period means interest is charged on all purchases immediately.
By Vicki Lee Parker
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com
Credit Card Fraud Prevention Using ASP and COM Technology
Hexa Software Development Team
sales@ip2location.com
http://www.devarticles.com
Credit card fraud is a problem. We all know this fact. But what are the appropriate steps to combat this crime. Hexa has listed some protection strategies of their own.
Credit card fraud has become pervasive on the Internet. According to MasterCard International, account takeover fraud has increased by 369% since 1995. It has become one of the fastest growing types of fraud, and one of the more difficult to combat. More than $700 million in online sales were lost to fraud in 2001, representing 1.14 percent of total annual online sales of $61.8 billion, according to GartnerG2.
Even if the credit card company has given the authorization as to the validity of the card, there are several ways fraudulent cards can be used on your site. The card may have been lost or stolen, but the card owner is yet to report its loss. Or the number on the card (and not the card itself) may have been lifted without the knowledge of the owner. There is also a scam called identity theft, where the card has been issued under false pretenses using someone else's identity and data.
As an online merchant, you need to have a system to check the authenticity of orders placed to safeguard your business. While the effort may require additional time and money, it can save you the cost and stress caused by charge-backs for fraudulent orders. You lost your physical products; you lose the sale price; you lose another business opportunity; and you will be fined an additional $15-$50 charge-back fee.
If you have a high percentage of charge-backs, your card services company can even blacklist you and cancel your merchant account. You will also spend time looking up the order and provide the requested information to your card services company. All of these hassles are things you can surely do without.
How can you protect your business from credit card frauds? Here are a few steps that can be taken to ensure that the transaction is being requested by the real cardholder.
* Suspect shipping address. According to ClearCommerce Corporation, a provider of payment processing and fraud protection software for e-commerce, orders from Ukraine, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia and Pakistan have a very high incidence of fraud, and often have unverifiable addresses.
* Untraceable email address. In many fraudulent orders, the customer's email address is often at one of the free email services, like hotmail.com and yahoo.com, which are relatively untraceable.
* Expensive items. Be wary of expensive orders, especially for expensive brand-name items.
* Multiple items. It can be a bad sign, for example, if someone orders three X-Box or three DVD players at once, especially where the items have a high resale value.
* Express shipping. Most fraudulent orders specify overnight or 1-day shipping without hesitation.
* Shipping address differs from billing address. Receiving point and billing address are different in fraud orders. If you are selling valuable items, it can be a good policy only to ship to the billing address of the card’s holder.
* Suspicious billing address. The address looks too simple or invalid. If the billing address is 123 Main St, New York, the order is probably fraud. You can use or online location tool to see if the address can be verified.
* Leave at door or post office box. If the courier service cannot guarantee delivery of goods, the risk of fraud is very high.
The advancement of geo-targeting in the Internet allows us to pinpoint the geographical region for an order. The information can be used to reduce the fraud by verifying it with the billing address and delivery address. This method can identify the scenario where someone from country X has stolen the credit card data from country Y. The IP address lookup service will reveal the real country instead of relying on the country filled in the order form.
IP2Location™ provides technology to translate IP address to country origin. The lookup table is available in several formats such as database and COM. It is the perfect solution to automate the fraud detection using client side programming languages like C++ & Visual Basic; or service side programming languages like ASP, PHP, JSP and CFML.
For example, company XYZ received a credit-card order from IP address 161.139.12.3. The order details are as following:
Name: John Ma
Address: 123 Main St
City: New York
ZIP Code: 1111
Country: United States
Tel: (503) 111-1111
Credit Card No: 1234 5678 9012 3456
Expired Date: December 2010
Credit card merchant processor will authorize this order if the billing address matches the order details. Unluckily, the credit card data has been stolen earlier by Mr. ABC from another country through the Internet. Later, he made a purchase of digital products from company XYZ using the information. His order approved by the merchant because all the details matched John’s record in the bank’s database. IP2Location™ technology can filter the difference between order’s country and record’s country upfront to protect your business. You can classify this kind of order for manual inspection before delivering the goods. You will be surprise how much this method will help in identifying fraud orders.
For the implementation, we use a fully functional IP2Location™ ActiveX component available at http://www.ip2location.com/ip2location-country.zip to query country by visitor's IP address. The unregistered version has a 5-second delay in each query.
First, install the ActiveX component in IIS web server. It could be as simple as running a command in DOS prompt.
C:\> regsvr32 ip2location.dll
We create a script to compare the lookup country and data given in the order authorization flow. It serves as a filter to reduce fraud. All rejected orders will be manual verify by merchants.
verify.asp
<% ' Country info filled in the form (US is only an example) BillingCountry = "US" ' Create server-side object Set ipObj = Server.CreateObject("IP2Location.Country") ' Initialize IP2Location object If ipObj.Initialize("demo") <> "OK" Then
response.write "IP2Location Initialization Failed.
End If
' Get visitor's IP address
IPaddr = Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR")
' Detect visitor's country of origin by IP address
CountryName = ipObj.LookUpShortName(IPaddr)
' Free IP2Location object
Set ipObj = nothing
If CountryName = BillingCountry Then
' IP address originates from country in billing address
' Low Fraud Risk
Else
' IP address different from country in billing address
' High Fraud Risk
End If
%>
------------------------
Protect Yourself From Credit Card Fraud
Unfortunately credit card fraud is really quite common these days, but there are ways that you can help to protect yourself. Becoming a victim of credit card fraud causes a lot of unnecessary hassle and is a very stressful experience.
You should familiarize yourself with the security features that the credit card company includes with your card. If you are looking to get a new credit card, make sure that it offers plenty of security.
One of the best ways to protect yourself against credit card fraud is to check the credit card statements you receive each month and look at the billing entries. This also helps you to understand your spending habits and helps to make sure that your budgeting is on track. By checking your statement you will be able to tell if there are any strange transactions on your account. If you notice a possible fraudulent charge, you should make immediate contact with your credit card company and inform them. The credit card provider will then look into the transaction and if it is not a legitimate entry they will then put measures in place to try to recover the money that was illegally taken from your account.
Another way that you can protect yourself from fraud is to never reply to emails that appear to be sent from your bank or your credit card company. These fake emails try to steal your personal information when you attempt to enter the web address they send for some sort of verification. Emails from banks should always be viewed with caution. Only ever reply if you know for certain that the email was sent from your bank or credit card provider. If you are unsure, either contact the company using a phone number you know to be legitimate or ignore and delete the message.
Always keep your credit card near you, and in sight, when making a payment and ensure that it is given back to you promptly. This will help to keep it safe from ‘skimming’, where an unscrupulous sales person may steal your credit card information to use later. Keep the card in a safe place at all times.
Never share your PIN (Personal Identification Number) with anyone, including members of your family. And never write the number on the card or on anything kept near your card. Your PIN should never be shared with anyone phoning on the pretext of confirming something on your account. Banks and credit card companies will never ask for your PIN.
Transactions using credit cards do not need the physical card so it is up to you to make sure your details are protected at all times. If you ever become aware of any credit card fraud on your account take action immediately to stop any further illegal activity.
Author's Bio
Lyn Bell has been in the finance industry for more than 30 years and is a Certified Financial Planner. She has helped many clients achieve their financial goals. Lyn can be visted at her website www.soundfinance.com and her blog at www.soundfinanceblog.blogspot.com
As an avid Squidoo fan she has a lens devoted to finance http://www.squidoo.com/soundfinance
Online credit card fraud protection
http://www.cmsgeeks.com
Credit card fraud for online purchases seems to be increasing both in scale and dollar amounts day by day. While this problem may seem to be out of control basic steps can be taken by both consumers and merchants to stem the flow. The article below contains information that is intended for merchants who process transactions over the web.
Having worked with companies using shopping carts and online payment systems, I have learned that protecting consumers and businesses is relatively simple. The scope of protection extends beyond the payment system and directly into the hands of merchants that receive payments online.
Unfortunately, credit card fraud exists to the degree that it does primarily because merchants, whether brick and mortar, or on the internet, do not take the necessary precautions to verify the authenticity of the purchasers.
Verify online purchases by contacting the person who created it.
If you cannot make contact with your customer by phone or email, cancel the order and send a response explaining why the purchase was cancelled. Don't make the assumption that a website is simply a tool to automate the purchasing process. Criminals rely on this assumption and exploit it often.
Make sure that personal data sent to and from your website is sent over an encrypted connection (HTTPS).
This is yet another step that makes access to personal information more difficult to those who do bad things with it. Although there is a slight financial cost for doing this it is well worth the investment. Savvy web surfers look for this and may not make purchases from your site if their information is transmitted over a non-encrypted connection.
Track and check the country of origin of the purchase against the credit card data.
Transactions that involve a different country than the address of the credit card are typically fraud and should be treated as such until it can be proven that they are legitimate. If you do not have the ability to track this data with your ecommerce software contact your developer team or IT staff to determine how to track this information.
Report suspicious credit card transactions.
If you suspect that a credit card is being used fraudulently contact the owner of the credit card or the credit card company.
Don't store customer financial data in your website database.
Unless you have an experienced IT staff that understands data security and the steps to keep this kind of information safe just don't do it. There are other ways to track data which don't reveal or expose critical information. Contact your developer or IT staff if you have specific questions regarding your customer information security policies.
Ensuring your purchases are legitimate helps to reduce the incidence of credit card fraud and conveys to your customer that you care about them and not just their money.
Wineke: Let's stop paying for Iraq with credit card
Would you be willing to increase your federal tax burden by 2 percent to support our troops in Iraq?
How about 12 percent, or 15 percent?
U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, thinks that if we want to fight a war, we ought to be willing to do something to pay for it -- like pay for it.
He, along with Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., have suggested placing a "surcharge " of between 2 percent and 15 percent on federal taxes to pay the $150 billion the Iraq war is expected to cost next year. Rich people would pay more; poor people would pay less; most of us would pay something.
From the bipartisan reaction to his proposal, you would think Obey had set off a stink bomb at a flower show.
Republicans, whose current answer to any problem seems to be to cut taxes and borrow whatever money is needed, reacted typically, accusing Obey and all Democrats of lusting after tax raises.
But Democrats were no more enthusiastic. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., responded by castigating President Bush for asking "no sacrifice from the American people except from our men and women in uniform and their families " and then went on to reassure us she doesn 't think a tax hike would be a sufficient "sacrifice. "
In other words, all of us, Democrat and Republican alike, "support the troops " but few of us support them so much we 're willing to give up even one thin dime to pay for their service.
Obey, however, is right.
If we want to take the nation to war, we ought to be willing to pay for that war, not just put it on a credit card.
It is becoming increasingly clear the war in Iraq is going to continue for years. It may not continue at its present level, but it will continue -- and it will continue to cost a lot of money.
The question is not whether we will spend that money. The question is whether we will pay for the war ourselves or just add the cost to the debt load we are leaving our children.
We 're leaving those children quite a legacy of irresponsibility as it is.
The nation 's infrastructure is crumbling and badly needs replacing. We have to replace water mains in our cities; we have to replace our roads and our airports. We need to think about what we will do to respond to the devastation promised by global warming (denial will work just so long).
The number of elderly people in our society is doubling and they will put an increasing burden on the nation 's health services and will, if we don 't act, bankrupt the Medicare program.
And, of course, the world doesn 't stand still. Al-Qaida is not the only group in the world that doesn 't like us. Sooner or later, some new enemy will test our resolve.
We are leaving our children plenty to handle. The least we could do is pay for this war so they aren 't stuck with it, too.
Contact Bill Wineke at bwineke@madison.com or at 608-252-6146.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/
What to do when your credit card has been used without your knowledge
The internet is a fantastic thing, but sometimes it is possible for it to jeopardise your finances. This is especially true if you use your credit card for online shopping. There are so many fraudsters out there who are looking to steal your details and they do find extremely clever ways of getting to them. This means that it is possible for your card details to potentially be used against your knowledge and that can mean that you end up in a lot of trouble financially.
So what can you do if this happens to you? Well ideally you will take all possible precautions so that it does not happen, however if it does then the best thing to do is not panic and contact your credit card provider. By contacting your credit card provider you will be able to put a stop to your card before the details can be used again. They will also be able to advise you of what to do next. More than likely you will get a new credit card through the post with different details. You will also be told to contact the police.
However the police do not always take notice of credit card fraud. They simply do not have the resources to deal with a lot of fraud that occurs online and so it is likely that you will not get your money back. However, more power has been given to banks now so that they can work on your behalf to recover any money that you may have lost.
Sometimes your credit card details may even be used without your knowledge on websites that you visit. Whilst this isn’t particularly common, it can happen and if it does then you need to understand that it is illegal. So if you are presented with a bill for something you have not purchased, contact both your credit card provider and the company claiming that you owe them money.
Overall credit card fraud is fairly common and so it is vital that you prevent your details from being stolen in the first place. Obviously you cannot always prevent fraudsters from getting hold of your details, but you should still try your best to prevent it from occurring anyway.
http://www.creditcards-gb.co.uk
What does a fraudulent transaction look like?
Nearly every online business will run into a visitor that is trying to make fraudulent purchases on their website at some point. Hopefully the transaction or situation can be identified and corrected before it ever becomes a real problem.
Unfortunately, fraud has become synonymous with online business. There are so many ways that fraud can be committed through a website, with several desired outcomes for fraudsters. Not all fraudulent transactions are made to obtain merchandise. Card testing is another problem that some merchants face, where the transaction is not meant to obtain goods.
It is important for merchants to be able to identify fraudulent situations and purchases before there is ever a shipment of products. Voiding a transaction is far easier to do than obtaining merchandise lost to a fraudulent transaction.
Businesses will always suffer more from fraud than consumers!
Lets face it. Merchants will lose every time fighting a fraudulent order chargeback that was successfully processed through their business. Credit card fraud regulations are designed to protect the consumer and only the consumer. Businesses have very little recourse if they process a fraudulent order and ship the product. The best method to fight fraud is to prevent fraud. To do this, merchants need to take a proactive approach to combating credit card fraud.
The 2 main types of fraud that merchants face while doing business online are card testing and fraudulent orders.
Card Testing:
Card testing is a type of fraud that many merchants are not aware of. It can have devastating effects on a business even though the business may never ship out any merchandise due to a fraudulent transaction. Card testing is the systematic testing of credit card numbers, in pursuit of finding a valid credit card number / expiration date combination. Card testing can be spotted by observing a large number of declined transactions through a payment gateway, usually in a sequential and consistent pattern. Many declined transactions followed by an approved transaction for a single user can also be card testing. Card testing is usually done with small amounts. The tester only wants to find valid numbers, and is not after tangible goods, yet.
Card testing can be very costly to a business. Most businesses are charged for every transaction, declined or approved, that they attempt. Card testers can attempt thousands or even tens of thousands of tests in a day. At about $.25 / transaction, it can get extremely expensive. Visa and MasterCard also monitor gateway addresses that have huge numbers of declines on them for the same reason. Allowing the continuance of a card tester can ultimately lead to a merchant being shut down, even if the merchant had no idea it was happening.
Card testing has 2 different phases. Phase 1 is trying to find a real card number. Phase 2 is finding an expiration date to match the card number previously found.
By using the Luhn algorithm, a tester can produce a list of valid credit card numbers. The next step is to test these numbers to see if the card is real. Once the tester finds a real card, they submit expiration dates until the card is approved. The tester builds a computer script to place automated queries into a merchant’s payment gateway. These scripts can be very complex and some can foil fraud detection software.
Card testing is reliant on 2 factors of an online payment gateway. Removal of either of the 2 factors will completely prevent the effectiveness of card testing. First, the merchant’s website must give different responses for a declined cards based on the decline reason. This is key, as a tester needs to know why the card was declined, was it a bad number or bad expiration date. Secondly the tester needs to be able to get an approval without a valid address.
Once the script finds a valid card number, but getting a wrong expiration date response, the card tester then tests expiration dates until he gets one that matches. Now he has a valid credit card number and expiration date.
Preventing Card Testing:
Preventing card testing is fairly simple. Monitor the declined and approved transactions processed through your gateway daily. Make sure that the payment gateway’s decline response is the same no matter what the reason for a decline is. Finally, make sure that a valid verified address is required before approving a transaction. These three steps will prevent card testing almost entirely.
Fraudulent Orders:
A fraudulent order is when a person illegally orders something on a stolen card in order to actually receive a product. The thief may have drop off addresses where they can pick up a delivery anonymously.
Fraudulent orders can be very costly because a merchant is setup to loose their shipped goods and later loose when the real card owner charges back the fraudulent purchase. Most fraudulent orders are never recovered after they are shipped.
Preventing Fraudulent Orders:
Fraudulent orders are more difficult to stop than card testing, but through analyzing orders that are processed through a website most can be eliminated. Fraudulent orders have the tendency to look abnormal compared to a normal order. Whether a large amount, requesting expedited shipping, strange shipping addresses, or other factors, most fraudulent orders are different than normal, and thus stand out when compared to regular orders.
Common Fraudulent Order Flags:
- Abnormally High Ticket Price.
- Different Shipping and Billing Addresses.
- Orders from Nigeria, Anywhere in Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, or foreign orders in general.
- Requesting Expedited Shipping.
- Offering More Than the Listed Price for the Product.
- Unusual Quantity or Type of Product Ordered.
- Free Email Address (hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc.)
- Fake Sounding Name (Ex: Rickey Rickerson).
- Persons Requesting a List of Products From You First.
- Incorrect or Fake Phone Number
Always use AVS and CVV/CV2/CVC (Card Verification) on every transaction you process. This will at the very least guarantee that the card holder has the card, and it is being billed to an address registered to the card.
If possible, check each order that is processed through your website. If you come across a suspicious order, call the customer to verify who they are. If the order is extremely large or talking to them is unconvincing, request them to fax a copy of their drivers license to you, and a signed invoice. These may be a small inconvenience to some of your customers, but the cost of fraud to your business is far greater than not taking the extra steps. Most customers are happy to verify information with you, as preventing fraud is a concern of theirs as well.
Also if you can, require a signature with every package that you ship. A signature is the only way to prove proof of delivery.
If a fraudulent order is successfully placed through your website, ‘YOU’ are the last defense. Remember that the perfect customer also fits the profile of someone ordering fraudulently.
Very Thanks to:www.merchantaccountblog.comThe Secret Diary Of Former Credit Card Customer Services Representitive.
WHEN YOU CALL A CREDIT CARD COMPANY, I ANSWER THE PHONE... or at least, I used to. After being a customer service rep with a leading national credit card company for approx. 3 months, I couldn't live with their "loan-sharking" practices they DEMANDED of their customers. This company is not hawking secured cards and spends lots of money in direct mail and internet advertising. On average, I answered 200 calls a day and 80% of my calls were enraged customers being "screwed" by the credit card company. One day, I just up and left with a letter of resignation. The point of my message is to offer some information about this company's money-making games and maybe a few tips (I hope I don't state the obvious to you).
HERE GOES: (I wish I still had my training manuals because I would just download some of this company's regulations onto this site.)
I. LATE FEES
A) MAILING YOUR REMITTANCE: The Company processes millions of payments each month through huge sorting machines (in training we saw a short video of this process). From the time we ACTUALLY receive your payment in our warehouse to the time the payment posts to your account takes 5-7 days. If you decide to send your payment via certified or air-mail, checks stapled/paperclipped to remittence stub, or enclose a letter with your payment, then you just added a few more days to your payment being posted to your account. WHY? because the sorting machine's conveyer belt is only wide enough for an envelope, an enclosed check/money order and a remittence stub; so, anything else must be sorted manually (shipping carton of air-mail payment, a staple, a paper clip, etc.). HERE'S THE CATCH...knowing that it will take 7-10 days for your mailed payment to post (2-3 days postal & 5-6 days to process), the credit card company will wait and mail your bill 10 days before it's due, knowing that the odds of you mailing in your payment immediately the day you receive it is slim to none. That way, they get their late fee (MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!). I was told on break-time one day by a senior co-worker that legally a credit card company (I believe for those card companies based in Delaware) can hold sending your bill up until the 5th DAY before your payment is due--and don't think that they don't do that!!!!! Now you've got a late fee and finance charges being assessed on that daily!!!! When customers complain of this causal type of late fee, we couldn't justify with our withholding of sending your bill at the last minute or our lengthy sorting process, so we would just say it was a post-office issue and not our fault because "we don't have control over the postal system".
B) PAYING-OFF YOUR ACCOUNT: call and ask for your pay-off balance because you must account for the 7-10 days of daily finance charges compounding on your acct while its in the mail and being processed--OR ELSE, you'll still have a balance on your account and have to deal with late fees on a following bill.
TO CALCULATE FINANCE CHARGES:1) DAILY FINANCE CHARGES (FC):
FC=APR/365 * ADB/100 * # DAYS IN BILLING CYCLE (OR # DAYS WORKING WITH)
EX. AVG.. DAILY BALANCE OF $2000; APR 14.99% AND WANT TO ACCOUNT FOR THE MAX. 10 DAYS TAKES FOR THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY TO POST YOUR PAYMENT:
FC=14.99/365days * $2000/100 * 10 days FC= $8.22so, pay-off balance (on day you call) would be $2008.22
2) CALCULATE MONTHLY FINANCE CHARGES:
FC= APR/12 * ADB/100
***NOTE: IF YOU WANT YOUR BALANCE TO DECREASE BY, SAY, $100 EACH MONTH, AND YOU WANT TO BEAT THE DAILY COMPOUNDING FINANCE CHARGES, then take your most recent bill's balance and calculate the finance charges using the above formula "calculating monthly finance charges" and add that finance charge to your $100 payment.
Ex. on a $2000 balance @ 14.99%
FC= 14.99/12 * $2000/100
FC= $24.99
SO, make a payment of $124.99. and repeat this calculation on your next bill's balance because, in essence, your paying next months finance charges this month!! And your principle amt. is decreasing at a fixed amount ($100) !!!
I HOPE this tip wasn't stating the obvious or too confusing :)!!II. OVERLIMIT FEES
A) My former company allows some cardholders to go over their credit limit without pre-authorization (none of the customer service reps knew what cardholders could go over or by what %). Cardholders would call with the assumption that the card would decline when it reached the credit limit, but we "explained" that you could go over and your card wouldn't be declined as a courtesy to avoid cardholder's embarrassment at the cashier counter. But, actually it was just a way for my former company to get more money because, I believe, my former company thinks that most people don't keep track of their balance on a daily basis and just leave it up to their "friendly" card company to do their cardholder's accounting.
B) Also, if at any point in the monthly cycle you are ONE DAY LATE--even if it's one day right in the middle of the cycle--you are assessed the overlimit fee.
c) Watch out for the double-whammy: late fee creating an over-limit fee. When I worked there, this combination totaled $58!! Plus, finance charges on top of that!!!SOLUTION: BE AWARE OF YOUR DAILY BALANCE AND DON'T GET TOO CLOSE TO YOUR CREDIT LIMIT!!!!
III. RAISING YOUR APRA) If at any point your account was late twice within a 6 mo. or 12 mo. (I can't remember which), then your APR goes up. Even if your late fees were waived because of our error. I especially "loved" when our loyal customers got this slap in the face and because we couldn't lower their APR, they chose to close their account. I would transfer them to our account-closing dept., knowing that the customer would be bribed by that dept. with a lower rate, but by that point the customer is so upset that they don't want our card anymore.
B) Also, watch those introductory rates because in just a few months a 3.99% could "shoot-up" to 19.99%!!!!!!C) Also, ONE late payment during your introductory rate equals removal of that intro rate.
IV. UNAUTHORIZED CHARGESA) True, legally a card company must give the cardholder the ability to dispute an unauthorized charge, but usually the unauthorized charge is from one of our in-house telemarketers/companies. Here's how the unauthorized charge transpires: as you may know, card companies rent, trade, and sell your name, number, and address to companies "affiliated" with them. These companies call you and if they are an in-house they have the ability to charge to your acct. Now these are telemarketers, so usually they make commission and have been known to "slam" you by charging their product/service to your acct. so they can make their commission and meet their quotas. Luckily, we could remove that charge and forego the dispute process, but how deceptive and ILLEGAL!!! and good-luck getting the finance charges removed on that "slam".
B) As for JUNKMAIL offers enclosed with your bill, Don't throw them away without first reading them!!! Some offers have been legally known to state (this isn't an exact quote) "if you don't check the refusal box and return it, then we assume you want the product/service and we'll charge it to your acct., immediately" Also, don't cash-in those junkmail checks giving you a dollar-amount credit to your account because by cashing those checks, you've just signed up for some useless service. And an added note, the customer service reps make a commission on any in-house products that we can sell or retain. SOLUTION TO ALL THIS MESS: DEMAND your card company to have your name removed from our list and state, "I do not want my name/address/phone rented, traded, or sold to any in-house or out-of-house companies" and request a confirmation letter to be sent to you so you have it on file.V. CREDIT CARD COMPANY CLOSES YOUR ACCOUNT
A) the obvious reason would be if you were delinquent in your payments or didn't pay all together, but the following reason just sickens me: I have seen customers who have used their card consistently each month, but they pay their balance off and on-time each month to avoid finance charges. My fomer company decides to close their account--unknowingly to the customer--because they is not making any money off this account!!!! So, it's a catch-22--you need good credit to get their card, but they dismiss those that are good-paying cardholders.VI. WHEN YOU HAVE A DISPUTE
A) When you have a disputed charge or any problems with your account, LOOK OUT!!!! The only number you get is customer service. You want to speak to a supervisor, we'll take your name and number (our supervisors WOULD NOT intercept the call, nor did they have the knowledge or company training to actually get on the phones to help customers!!!!!!!) and, if the supervisor feels like it, he/she will call you back within 48 hours. I've seen supervisors look at customer complaint forms and then just throw them away!!!! If you want to speak to the main departments that could directly resolve your problem, there is NO NUMBER that you can call; the customer service reps aren't even given any phone numbers, just an endless list of addresses!B) Another option this company's reps could use was to e-mail the complaint to the relevant department (faster than the customer mailing complaints to some vague address), but time and time again I had customers saying they exhausted both of these routes--e-mail & mail--with no luck and their was no way that I could override the problem because I had neither the authorization nor knowledge of how to remedy the problem. Sometimes I just wanted to kick the "tar" (keeping it clean) out of these departments because the resolution was so simple, but, yet, nothing was done!!
SOLUTION:
BE DILIGENT ON THE STATUS OF YOUR DISPUTE, KEEP DOCUMENTATION OF ALL PARTIES (DATES/FULL NAMES/TIME CALLED/STATUS/ETC.). HAVE THE EXPECTATION THAT WHEN THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH MY FIRSUSA ACCOUNT, IT WILL NOT BE RESOLVED BY THE NEXT BILL (Just for your own personal serenity). However, diligence will allow for customer service reps to ensure your not getting late fees, over limit fees, and additional finance charges while any investigating is taking place.
2) Remember the last-minute mailing of your bill ploy: "I sent my payment in on (use a date 7-10 days before your due date), so why haven't you received it!!!" or play dumb: "I sent my payment in on (use a date 2-5 days before your due date, I know the mail doesn't take that long to get there!!" or "I sent my payment via air-mail/certified mail so I know it got there on time!" Using these ignorance ploys (though, now you are fully knowledgeable) will be followed with the reps blah-blah-blah that "we don't have control over the postal system and you should mail your payment in 7-10 days before the due date, but just this once I'll waive the fee & any overlimit fee this may have caused you."
*******NOTE: Customer service reps keeps concise net-worked documentation of when you call, what you and the rep talked about, and what action/resolutions were done. So, don't use the same tactic too soon after this waiver (wait 5-6 mo between the exact same ploy).
2) My former employer keeps a running total for the last 24 months of how many fees & finance charges they made off your account. If they've made money (my supervisor had told me it costs the company something like $120 to maintain your account) off of you for at least the amount it costs them to "maintain" -- then state, "If you look at my account history &/or my revolving credit with a high APR, you'll see you've made a lot of money off of me, would you be willing to waive this late/overlimit fee for me?"3) If all else fails, RAISE HELL!!, customer service reps are NOT ALLOWED to disconnect (we were diligently & secretly monitored and scored on our performance) a call unless the customer is being verbally abusive and using lots of profanity. So get mad and go on-and-on, the rep will just get sick of hearing you that they'll waive the fee just to shut you up!! Keep in mind that I got 200 calls a day with approx. 80% of them being IRRATE customers, I was starved for satisfied customers that didn't yell or get aggressive.
4) Finally, though the company keeps documentation of all your calls, if refused by the first rep, then HANG-UP and call-back odds are 99.9% certain that you'll get a different rep and maybe you can sweet talk/give a sob story and get the rep to waive the fee.
B) RE-AGING Your account1) as you may know, re-aging is when they remove a late month(s) status on your credit history, as if turning back the hands of time. If you're able to succeed at getting the fee waived--esp. using the ignorance ploys of when you mailed in your payment--then ensure that your account gets re-aged. WHY? to ensure that your credit history shows that your account was not late (atleast for the relevent month on-hand) and to avoid the credit card company's stupid policy that "late twice within the last 6 months equals a huge jump in your APR (19.99% to 22%(?) to 26.99%)" Also to avoid the removal of any low introductory rates.
VIII. MOST IMPORTANTLY
A) READ YOUR DISCLOSURE STATEMENT AND ANY NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO THAT DISCLOSURE STATEMENT!!!!!!!!! this lists all of your credit card company's charges, fees, and everything they will try to do to profit off of you! Reps particularly liked to use this as a cop-out to avoid having to remedy your situation, "blah-blah-blah is stated very clearly in your disclosure statement (in the fine, fine, fine, little print), we advise all customers to read this very carefully."
****NOTE: We had to keep our "call-time" down to an average of I believe it was 2.5 minutes with each customer (or we were fired), so get to point when you call and the rep will have a more efficient ablility to get all the mess that company created for you resolved (or at least make you think it was resolved.)
Thanks to http://www.creditinfocenter.com/cards/customerservicerepdiary.shtml :)
Credit Cards & Identity Theft - Online Fraud
The picture above is an example of a physical magnetic stripe reader and the size of it.
A couple of years ago, my personal credit card account number was compromised. Did this stop me from continuing online transactions? No way.
In my case, while an unauthorized party gained my account details, no transactions were made. The bank's fraud department were understandably hesitant in releasing details of the compromise, but they were very quick in taking action. I'm not even sure that the offending party was an online merchant, hacker or traditional retailer.
The media in general have fed the paranoia levels of the online consumer community regarding online transactions. Yes, credit card numbers are stolen and yes, there are victims who suffer financial loss. But submitting your credit card details online is no different to handing your card to a shop assistant that you don't know or a waiter you have never met before. There is very little stopping merchants we carry out transactions with on a face to face basis from gathering detailed lists of account numbers to be sold off on the black market. In fact, according to the 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report, under 12 percent of ID fraud incidents originate online.
The media have also fed the xenophobic cold war attitudes of years gone by by focusing on certain countries. Credit card number hackers are "Russian", true. They are also American, Australian and English. Every country in the world has a community of identity thieves, scammers and spammers.
If you own a credit card and don't carry out online transactions, it doesn't mean you are safe. We need to remember that most of the world's information systems are now connected somehow to the Internet. All your vital details are now available online; regardless of whether or not you are a Internet user.
So, now after having blown away your misconceptions of your privacy, and your false security of being safe from identity theft, let's deal with reality!
Identity theft and credit card fraud is not uncommon, such is the nature of an online world. How do we as netizens and webmasters protect ourselves and our clients as best as possible? It boils down to a number of simple guidelines.
Password issues
Passwords - Know that little window that pops up and politely asks you if you want your computer to remember certain user names and passwords? Don't tick it! Most passwords are stored in a special file on a Windows 95/98/ME system and every half-baked pimply would-be hacker knows what it is. If you are not using a firewall, it is pretty easy for these people to snatch your password file and then crack it at their leisure using freely available programs.Password length can also add as extra protection. Those extra few numbers and letters make all the difference. Read the article:
Safety in numbers and letters
Web masters, if you are keeping user information on your web server, ensure it is stored in the proper directory with the proper permissions. Better still, wherever possible, store minimum client information on your server.
Even better, ensure that all sensitive details that your visitors may submit occur over an SSL connection. A web server is the equivalent of a 7/11 store - open all hours for valid and non-valid customers. There is NO 100% guaranteed safe system.Firewalls
A personal firewall is now a necessity, not a luxury. The script kiddie problem is increasing. A script kiddie is someone who fancies themselves as a hacker and utilizes freely available programs to compromise your system via the Internet. Script Kiddies have caused major problems over recent years and have been known to post up credit card numbers for all to see. Why? Bragging rights, a great deal of the time. There are over 60 000 points of entry on your PC.Beware of phishing scams
Phishing is a strategy used to fool people into revealing passwords and other sensitive information by posing as a legitimate source. A common example is email sent by a party claiming to be a bank stating that the addressee must take action immediately to prevent problems with their account. The email usually has a link an online form that is branded to like the organization web site. The form will usually ask for sensitive details such as passwords, tax numbers etc.
Phishing scammers are becoming increasingly skilled in mimicking style and language of communications. They use lists of millions of email addresses to send their notes out to, in the hope of snagging even a very small percentage of addressees.
As these scams can be hard to discern from legitimate communications, the rule of thumb is that if the email has a link that leads to an account login page; don't use that link. Go to the site via another means and login, or call the company to verify the authenticity of the email.
Verify
Who are you? - Before you click the submit button for that ezine that you really gotta have; how much information are you having to give away? A name and email address should be all that's needed in most cases. Even if you aren't having to submit credit card numbers, you are still giving away information that enables people to build profiles on you which then make it easier for identity theft to occur.
It's amazing how much information you can access just knowing somebody's date of birth. If a service provider is asking you for more than your name and email address; I strongly advise checking them out before submitting.
Web masters; you need to be able to supply freely available details about your organization if you want visitors to sign up for your services. An applied and publicized privacy policy along with an "about us" page will serve to put your visitors minds at rest.
Secure connection
In the clear = danger - When you are asked to submit sensitive details such as credit card numbers, check your browser address bar. Does the address begin with https:? If it doesn't, you will be submitting details "in the clear" - unprotected. The https signifies a secure line of communications using inbuilt browser encryption, these days it is about as secure as you can hope for.Check your accounts regularly
If you have the ability to bank online; it's probably wise to log in every couple of days to review transactions. The major banks, while quick to sniff out fraudulent activities these days, don't always pick up on fraudulent transactions.
If you do see something that looks suspicious in your transaction history, don't panic, but immediately contact your bank who may freeze your account while they investigate. In the majority of cases, you won't be liable for the invalid transactions. But I will say that having your account compromised is very frustrating as it can take a week or two to reissue cards. And if, like me, you utilize online services frequently you'll find it a time consuming ordeal while contacting your suppliers to tell them of the changes.More on identity theft
Why steal another persons credit card numbers when you can get your own under an assumed identity? I watched a disturbing report a couple of years ago concerning the head of a security firm; who incidentally refused to have an Internet connection at home, or carry out any personal transactions online. He challenged workers within the organization to see how much information they could collate regarding him; using only the Internet as a tool.
The pile of documentation that was gathered within a couple of weeks was frightening. The file he was presented with was over two inches thick and contained amongst other things a certified copy of his birth certificate. With that type of information, a person could obtain a credit card, a drivers license, etc. etc. and happily build up huge bills under his name. There are many documented cases of identity theft and it has ruined innocent people's lives.
There are many "spy" services out there, that for only a few bucks are quite willing to provide anyone with enough information to begin building a usable personal profile. It's legal to provide this sort of information which includes court records, bankruptcy details, marriage and birth certificates. Even more disturbing is that a number of these services are provided by our Governments.
If you should start receiving strange bills for items you didn't order from companies you have never heard of, don't disregard them as billing mistakes. You may be the victim of identity theft. Contact your bank manager and law enforcement authorities immediately; it's better to be safe than sorry.
Whether netizen or web master, we can't stop credit card fraud or identity theft, but we can minimize it by being aware and taking responsibility for the amount of information we give away or store.
Thanks to original authorMichael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
Three Types Of Fraud: Most Common, Most Dangerous
By: Michael Russell
Fraud. The intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest means to deprive another of their money, property, or a legal right. Fraudster. A person who intentionally
deceives a consumer or business to deprive them or their money,property, or a legal right. Fraud is a crime in the United States, but unfortunately, those who commit fraud largely go
unpunished and continue to victimize consumers and businesses. In 2005 in telemarketing and internet frauds, an average of $19 million dollars was the total loss to fraud. In 2004, it was $9
million dollars. That is a $10 million dollar increase in one year. More and more fraudsters are finding new methods to deceive consumers, but the most used schemes are Phishing, Pharming
and Work-At-Home Scams. These schemes are achieved either through the Internet, Telemarketing, or both.
Phishing is defined as a fraudster calling or e-mailing the consumer pretending to be a
legitimate business, bank, organization, or government agency wanting the consumer to confirm their personal information. Personal information is addresses, names, dates of birth, account numbers, pin numbers, access codes, etc. Anything for the fraudster to access the consumer's account. Reasons or excuses the fraudster will use to gain this access are, "Your account is about to close unless...Our computers lost your information so if you would...An order was placed in your name if you would give us.". Now, once the information is given, the fraudster has
access to their account. Once the consumer has been hooked by a phisher it is their responsibility to act immediately. They must contact the companies with which they have accounts and notify them of the phishing. But what are the ways to avoid being
'Phished'? Verify. Verify the company being represented. Verify the caller. Check with state and/or local consumer protection agencies and the Better Business Bureau about the
company. If the consumer protection agencies or the Better Business Bureau cannot confirm the company then the company or caller is fraudulent and the call or e-mail was phishing. It is asked if you encounter phishing that you notify the company that the fraudster was representing. Now, pharming is when a virus or malicious program is planted into the computer and hijacks the consumer's web browser. Then when the consumer types a web
address they are taken to a phony site and when they enter in their personal information, more specifically their account number and password, the fraudster can then steal that information and use it fraudulently. Of course, this is all done without the
consumer's knowledge. That is the whole idea behind pharming. Pharming is more sophisticated than phishing and much more dangerous. But if that is true, how do you avoid being a victim to pharming? Certification. The servers or websites would have to add another layer of authentication that is certification. They would have to prove to you that they are who they say they are and establish a trusted link with you. Of course, that would require obtaining a certificate from a certificate authority such as VeriSign. Now, when you visit a site that uses certification a dialog box will appear asking you if you want to trust the site or
certificate. If the name on the certificate does not match the name on the site then something is wrong. The only way you can protect yourself from pharming is to use sites that use certification as described above. If you believes that your web browser has
been hijacked then you will have to contact your Internet Security Provider to resolve the problem. Work-at-Home scams are jobs that people or consumers do in the comfort of their own home. These are paid jobs. But unfortunately, most Work-at-Home jobs
are scams. They promise huge amounts of profit, little work time and other unrealistic promises. But how to point them out? First, Work-at-Home jobs never promise big profits in
little time. Second, you should ask for more information on what you will be doing and for whom. Third, you must know whom you are dealing with. You should find out if the company is
legitimate by contacting your state or local consumer protection agencies and the Better Business Bureau. Fourth, you should get references. You should ask the employees of the company if the company itself keeps its promises. Lastly, you should be aware of the refund policy. You should inquire with the company under what circumstances you would be allowed a refund against your purchase.
Now, three of the most common or most dangerous types of frauds were named. Each type of fraud was explained and what you could do to avoid or protect yourself from
these types of fraud. But what if you are a victim of one of these? What should you do? There are four steps that you, a consumer should follow if you are a victim of fraud. First, you must contact the fraud department in one of three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) to have a fraud alert placed on your credit report. The alert tells the creditors to follow certain procedures before opening a new account with you, the consumer. Second, you should close any accounts that have the fraudulent activity or have been opened fraudulently. Third, you should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the fraudulent activity. Lastly, you need to file a report with the local police authorities. Once filed you need to give a copy to your Federal Trade Commission ID Theft complaint form. This action helps you with creditors who need proof of the crime in order to remove it from your credit report.
Phishing,
Pharming and Work-at-Home scams are the most common types of fraud today. One can request verification of personal information, another can take it without the consumer’s knowledge and another can make false promises. More and more consumers are becoming victims of fraud because the scams are becoming more sophisticated. But you, the consumer, have the best weapon and protection against fraud. Education. If you were able to educate yourself on fraud you would be less likely to become a victim of it. So, educate yourself. Learn everything you can about fraud. Research it, ask about it and know your enemy. Phishing, Pharming and Work-at-Home scams are only three of many types of fraud. Learn about them all and find out how to protect yourself them. Don’t be a victim of fraud.
In the first part of this article, I outlined some frightening statistics regarding credit card fraud and chargeback fees to merchants. It's worthwhile reviewing if you haven't read it as yet.
Protecting your online business from fraud.
One of the great things about the Internet is anonymity. One of the worst things about the Internet is anonymity - especially if you're an ecommerce merchant. If you utilize payment gateways for credit card transactions or are considering doing so, it is important
to ask the gateway provider about their screening features (this precedes actual credit card payment processing). Some offer none at all! Many payment gateway providers use the Address Verification System (AVS). AVS provides a degree of protection by comparing some
of the billing details on the order to those held by the cardholders bank.
– But :
The transaction may be approved even if the address verificationinformation does not match! The merchant faces the possibility ofchargebacks if the payment gateway decides to continue with thetransaction on a questionable match. If you have AVS features inplace, check the settings in your interface. AVS should just be usedas an indicator of a possible attempt at fraud; a flag to help determine if an order should be more thoroughly investigated.CVV2 takes things a step further. A CVV2 number is the three lastdigits located on the back of a credit card, or the four stand-alonedigits on the front of an Amex card. It's certainly very useful forfurther minimizing fraud, but fraudsters can get hold of this information, so again, don't rely on this alone. Fraud screening really needs to be approached holistically. The following anti-fraud strategies are worthwhile considering whether you're using offline facilities for payment processing or third party credit card processing systems
Request information.
While consumers value their privacy and require quick checkoutprocesses, it is of the utmost importance that you gather sufficient customer identity details during the ordering process. The customers name, credit card number and expiry date is not enough. Tell your customers why you need the information and what you will do with it - after all, it's in their best interests too.
The fewer chargeback fees you have to pay, the cheaper you can offer goods and services.
Check the IP address
It's important that each order processed from your site alsocontains information regarding the IP address of the person placing the order. An IP address is a unique network identifier issued by an Internet Service Provider to a user every time they are logged on to the Internet. The IP address can be easily traced using free tools such as DNS Stuff. If the order has a billing address of the USA, and the IP originates in Africa, you can be fairly certain it's fraud. While this is a very good anti-fraud mechanism and useful for tracking fraudsters, be aware that IP addresses can also be forged.
Email address awareness.
Fraudsters rarely use their own email address and with theproliferation of free email services, it is quite easy to establish a fake email account - it can be done in under 2 minutes Some online businesses now refuse to process web site orders that llist free email address services as the primary point of contact, opting to request from customers their ISP or business emailaddresses. You can check an email address quickly by going to the originating domain and seeing if it provides a free email service.
Shipping addresses.
If the shipping address is different to the billing address, be wary; although it is not uncommon for people sending gifts to others to request a different shipping address, or if the billing address is a post office box. You'll rarely find a fraudster sending goods to the legitimate cardholders address; although this has been known to occur on occasion.
At the point of ordering, request a telephone contact number from the purchaser. State that you need this number in order to contact them if there are any problems. Many cardholders of compromised accounts have been alerted in this way. The fraudster more than likely won't give you his own phone number as he/she can then be traced. If an order is suspect, email the customer or call them to confirm the authenticity of the transaction. Fraudsters hate merchant
contact of any kind.
Log analysis.
There's plethora of site traffic tracking services and softwareavailable now that will not only return very valuable demographic data, but can also assist you in pinpointing the origins of frau d. Still one of the best ways to analyze your log files is manually. By examining your logs carefully, you will be able to find out a suspect order's originating Internet address if it's not included on your order receipts. This tracking is made easier if you include a Time Stamp on each submitted order. If you find that an order originating from Russia states a billing address of Sydney on the order form, make further enquiries. Most web hosts will have a server log available for your account. It's basically a text file that records every single request to the site, including images. Contained in every request is an originating IP i.e. the ISP issued address of the computer that "asked" for the file. If you aren't sure about how to access your raw server logs, enquire with your hosting service. Learn more about interpreting server logs.
Overseas orders.
Can be risky, but an important part of your online business - by refusing to ship outside your country, you may be leaving a lot of money on the table. It is very difficult to retrieve goods or apprehend fraudsters once the goods have left the country, so don't hesitate in making further enquiries with the customer or credit card company if an order seems suspect. Unfortunately, Eastern Europe is still a very high risk region for the origin of credit card fraud, with some online business owners refusing to process orders from that region. Other high risk regions are Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Africa and Israel.
Unusual orders.
Unusually large orders requesting express delivery definitelywarrant further investigation, especially if the customer has notpurchased from you before. Customers are pretty cautious, and will tend to place small orders in the first instance to test the efficiency and integrity of your online business, or they'll make some sort of contact with you prior to ordering.
When in doubt, call the cardholder or bank.
I can't stress this enough - call the relevant credit card company BEFORE attempting to process the order if in doubt... that extra 5 minutes may save you big dollars! Even if the order has been
processed through automated systems, it's not too late to follow up before shipping the goods or providing the services. The idea is to deal with the situation before the cardholder is issued a statement, notices something on it that they didn't purchase and then contacts
their bank.
Ask for photo identification
If you're dealing with high value items, I don't think it's overkill to ask for photo identification to be emailed to you if an order seems suspicious. You just need to weigh up the risks -
possibly lose a couple of hundred dollars profit from a disgruntled client not willing to provide photo ID, or lose the couple of hundred dollars, plus the product, plus the chargeback fee if you decide to go ahead with the transaction.
Make your anti-fraud policy visible.
Visual deterrents are still one of the most effective ways of minimizing crime. In a bricks and mortar store, signs and cameras do prevent shoplifting to some degree, especially amongst amateur criminals. Why not use the strategy on your site?
Add bold notices to the checkout pages stating your stance on fraud and that systems are in place to monitor all transactions. Not only will this decrease attempts at fraud, but will also demonstrate to your clients that you take transaction security very seriously.
Utilize specialist anti-fraud services.
Like so many online business owners, perhaps you don't have time to carry out rigorous screening. With the increase in fraudulent transactions, many companies have sprung up to act as screening services to help minimize credit card fraud risks to merchants. As with anything else related to online business security, nothing is guaranteed 100% effective, but the above strategies will definitely assist in decreasing the amount of credit card fraud you experience, or help you track down credit card fraudsters.
Further learning resources
Payment Gateways and Merchant accounts - a beginners guide
Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
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