Fraud is a serious crime and protecting yourself and your customers should never be an afterthought in your business practices. If you conduct business using payments other than cash, you are putting yourself, your business, and your customers at risk of fraud. Criminals first target consumers’ credit card information, social security numbers, and other sensitive data. Once they have obtained enough information to conduct transactions, your business, website, or store could be their next stop.
According to the FTC, “more than one in ten Americans – nearly 25 million adults in the United States – were victims of some type of consumer fraud during 2003.”
The rising popularity of e-commerce and card payments has directly increased the amount of fraud crimes. Fraud poses a serious threat to consumers, businesses, and the economy as a whole. Even the most cautious and sophisticated people can become a victim to email fraud, check fraud, internet fraud, and consumer fraud.
Don’t jeopardize your business, financial well-being, and life to fraud. Here are ten tips on how to minimize your chances of fraud from happening to yourself or your business.
1. Be cautious with your personal identification information, such as your full name, social security number, and address. If you are prompted to provide it, ask first if it can be kept confidential. If that isn’t an option, inquire who it is being shared with and how it is going to be used.
2. Never give your personal, bank account, or credit card information to anyone who solicits you via telephone. Ask instead for them to snail mail you any additional information they can provide for further research.
3. Store personal information safely. Keep a list of all your credit cards, account numbers, expiration dates, and customer service phone numbers in a secure place. Make sure that it can be accessed relatively quickly so that you can contact companies immediately, in case your personal information is stolen.
4. Destroy all ATM receipts, bank statements, expired cards, insurance forms, and any other documents that may contain your personal identification, account numbers, and financial information. This also includes pre-approved solicitation letters. Dumpster divers are more clever than they first appear.
5. Minimize your credit cards and other items with personal information that you carry around in your purse, wallet, or briefcase. Cancel all inactive cards and accounts you have because, even though you don’t use them, the accounts are still susceptible for fraud and theft.
6. Pay attention to your bills and follow up with creditors if they don’t arrive on time. A missing bill could mean that a thief could have changed the address of your account.
7. Secure Information in your home. Treat your personal information and payment documents like you would a will, deed, stock certificate, and income tax fillings. Keep them secure in a place like a safe or a desk with a locked drawer.
8. Be informed about your workplace security procedures. Your employer has all your personal and financial information. It is good to know who has access to your files and verify that they are kept in a very secure location. It is also wise to ensure proper disposal procedures with documents as well.
9. Don’t use third parties. When you are applying for a card, work directly with the financial institution who is supplying it. Third parties only give more strangers access to your information, and more ways for criminals to expunge your identity.
10. Be wary of bad credit offers. No one can magically erase bad credit history overnight. This information stays on your report for up to seven years. Anyone who promises they can erase your history should be not only be avoided, but reported.
The greatest way to protect your business’ credit card processing services from fraud is with a company who proactively prevents it. Veritrans has the credit card processing fraud prevention your business needs with superior quality service and no hidden fees. Guaranteed. Veritrans offers retail, wireless, online, and MOTO processing for all types of major brand cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB (Japan’s Credit Card), Pin-based debit cards and EBT (food stamps) cards. Even if you already have an account somewhere else, call Veritrans for a free and confidential analysis of your current contract and fees. We will protect you from fraud, and help you understand and walk you through our cost-effective card processing service solutions.
