Online fraud is a popular creation of this very era. You confront numerous situations online where you are on the verge of being struck with any of similar fraud situations. It’s really hard to distinguish a genuine email and a scam. The tips and tricks that they use is probably more sophisticated and sound then a genuine email in itself. They seem to be from reputed sources and ultimately setting you in great problem.

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Fraud Exposing tips:

There are certain tips that you can always follow to see if the source is a credible one or it’s just another trap to cost you money for no good. These are the ways in which you can identify the credibility:

1. Analyze the tone: tone does help a lot in analyzing the credibility of the one sending you such email and the fraudulent are in rush for most of the time. They ask you for frequent updates and verifications just to make sure that you believe what they stay and they get the required information.
2. Request of information: They request you for certain personal information of yours. You will be asked for your account number, credit card number and other personal details that can help them loot you or get the best out of you. Mother’s maiden name, date of birth might be some of this information so you need to stay awake before sharing any of this information to anyone.
3. Links in the Email: These messages usually consist of links from a very reputed organization online but you should not click on the link in any case as this could be communicating a lot of information.
4. Grammar: One of the excellent ways to get rid of such messages is to analyze their grammatical skills. These messages are mostly poor in grammar, spellings and punctuation.
5. Page layout: In case you are using any online service, make sure that the page layout and the protocols used are all credible as there are sources setting pranks for people in order to access their details. Any credible source will make a webpage properly ensuring that you get a safe and secure feel out of it.

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Your email address:

This is one of the important questions that might rise in your head and certainly this is a matter of concern to many people. Most of the times the email address is randomly generated as you will notice that you never came across with any services from the bank you are receiving your email from. Another source of email addresses is the mailings lists, web pages, chat rooms, and directories of social networks. Make sure that you don’t share your email addresses everywhere without analyzing the credibility of the source.

Immediate responses after you make the big mistake:

Once you make the mistake by any chance, you need to be prompt in coming up with the response. Inform your institution with the prank that you have just encountered and get their consent on the issue. You can terminate your account services for a while or so. Another step that can help is to change your pin or password instantly. Manage your account settings and change all the secret questions as well.

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The physical markets have turned into online markets lately and people have started adopting the online methods for purchasing a lot of their goods. This does help for most of the time as you need not to go to the provider for the goods or services rather you just place an order and you get the goods or services dropped right away. The online mode is safe and reliable but there are instances where people do fall victims to fraudsters. There are some symptoms as well as there are some immediate actions that you need to take just to make sure that you don’t lose much.

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Symptoms of Ecommerce fraud:

There are some typical cases where the type of fraud is quite the same. There hasn’t been any innovative frauds invented lately and there have been definite fraud cases so far.

These include:

• You buy something online but that is not delivered to the recipient’s address.
• You make a sale, deliver the object but you are never paid for that. The recipient does not pay you online neither on the delivery.
• The purchase you made was something different than what you got delivered in the package.
• You are being told that you won a lottery prize worth a million and for that you need to pay a few dollars as the processing fee. You pay the fee and you never get the million dollars.
• The business opportunity that you took part in was not as attractive and profitable as you expected before making the final deal.
• You help someone who seeks help from you in terms of cash and promises you to come up with a huge sum once his/her problems are sorted out but does not response after you send him money for help.
• You purchase software but that does not have a license or is pirated.
• You make an investment online that is marketed to you through email or website but do not get any response after the initial upfront payment.

Such events might have occurred in the past, of they might occur somewhere in the future until or unless you make the necessary actions once making a deal in the online world.

Actions available to you:

The moment you realize that you are dealing with something dangerous or scam, stop paying more money rather start thinking about ways in which you can recover your money back. Check the third party if that is available for a dispute resolution, this does not imply for most of the time as fraudsters run away the moment they are successful. In case you have purchased the stuff from an auction, see if the auction provider provides any dispute management option. Credit card payments can be requested for investigations. You can even check if you qualify for the fraud protection programs in case you paid through any online payment service such as PayPal. The best way against such a trap is to have complete record of every communication done. Take prints of the web pages, emails, record phone calls just so that you have the necessary information when required.

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We have already given 10 tips on minimizing eCommerce Fraud Exposure. But it’s not just about spending money on fraud detection/prevention systems. You first need to understand the kinds of fraud you can be exposed to. Only then can you figure out the ways to save yourself from them.

Detect the type of fraud

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The most advanced criminals will give you a fake card or a card obtained via skimming. There is little you can do in such cases since the criminals themselves practice fraud as a means of earning a living and are very good at it. Other difficult to track fraudsters are those that use Credit Card Generators, sophisticated software that generates fake CC information.

What you will face more often, however, is a kind of fraud where the customer will claim he never placed any order, or never received it. Another kind of fraud you can be exposed to is a Card Not Present (CNP) fraud. Here the purchaser has no physical card.

How can you identify frauds?

A big sign will be multiple orders being placed for the same item over a short period of time, or even orders being placed for multiple items at a rate faster than you are used to. Unless you have invested in advertising, there is little reason for order volume to go up suddenly. If you spot such a change then, rather than being pleased with your luck, you should hit the panic button and try to figure out why there are so many orders. More likely than not, you are being tried to be victimized by a fraudster.

Another sign to look for is inaccurate addresses. An address with only a P.O. Box number rather than a full address is riskier. Also, if you have the time and resources, look up the address provided before shipping. If it seems suspicious, like an old abandoned building, then it’s best to refuse the order.

Lastly, if your customer is using a free email id, request verification via other means, such as faxing over required information. It’s very easy to create a fake email id to place an order then discard it forever.

Use systems like AVS and IVR and always get a signed receipt

AVS is widely used already for fraud prevention. A lesser used method, however, is IVR systems like VoiceStamps. Such systems can be used to aurally record your customers’ placing the order. If the customer later claims that  he/she never placed the order, you have proof that he/she indeed did place it. Also, have your customer sign an acknowledgement of receipt and get a copy of the acknowledgement. That way your customer cannot claim that the order wasn’t delivered.

Being aware of the various methods you can be victimized can go a long way in preventing fraud. Most times, you need to take simple methods to prevent cases of fraudulent transactions. Of course, there is only so much you can do in cases of stolen credit cards and the like, but there is definitely no reason why you shouldn’t work on preventing other kinds of fraud.

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As a continuation to the first part of “10 Tips to Minimize eCommerce Fraud Exposure Part 1″, let’s dive into the second part.

6. Report “phishermen” who are out to benefit from spoof sites
Recently more and more phishing scams have been reported, especially from online banking customers. Imagine a scenario where a chunk of money unknowingly vanished from your account. Well, the fact is that you could very well have helped the scammer transfer YOUR own money into THEIR accounts. What happens is that the account holder receives a fraudulent email containing a link that redirects to a fake website. The site may look authentic but it’s not. So when a customer enters his or her own username and password in the spoof site, the scammer uses that information and helps himself to the money. What’s important is to NEVER click on these phishing links and report them immediately to the authorities. A good guide on how to prevent phishing scams can be found here. eCommerce store owners should also be vigilant and regularly check if spoof versions of their sites can be found online.

7. Protect your business with the best security solutions money can buy
Industry standard computer systems security is very much sought after these days and for a good reason too. You should not scrimp on this integral part in keeping your company safe from fraudsters, so when shopping for a good firewall and virus detection solution, know what you’re buying into and take the initiative to learn more about how things work.

8. Download discriminately
And that means only download files from sources you trust, not from dubious sites where files are laden with spyware and malicious viruses out to destroy and bring mayhem to the organized structure of your business.

9. Empty your USPS mailbox
You can prevent mail theft and identify theft if you made it a point to clear your mailbox. Don’t leave anything in the mailbox that could compromise your business’ security. Remember to update your addresses each time you move so that old mail with sensitive information will not be left in the mailbox.

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For merchants who rely on eCommerce and the Internet as their source of livelihood, credit card fraud is not a laughing matter. This is especially true when you have huge electronic payment gateways and similar companies protecting their businesses by spending millions in security and to uphold the strength of their data storage systems. However, fraud prevention professionals say that some merchants rely too much on their sophisticated tech tools and fail to see that the simplest steps can help avoid fraud. All it takes to begin the awareness is that “human touch”. Here are 5 tips for the average eCommerce merchant to help them stave off fraudsters.

Tip #1 – Never send out sensitive data over email
A lot of us are aware that we shouldn’t do this and yet we still send sensitive data like passwords and PIN codes over emails. Important data should never be stored in recoverable format because it’s getting easier for people to tamper with emails and extract information that you don’t want to fall into the wrong hands. Don’t even send passwords to yourself in the email hoping that you can look back at the email and retrieve your password, because someone could get there before you. Just use the password retrieval link at the site and obtain a temporary password in your Inbox.

Tip #2 – Be discreet when leaving voice mail messages
Be wary of your surroundings and/or foreign devices nearby. If you find that a voicemail sent to you contains sensitive data, delete it immediately.

Tip #3 – Copy with care
When making copies of documents containing sensitive information at the copier, keep the originals in a safe place. If you do not wish to keep them, do shred them and dispose of them discreetly.

Tip $4 – Share customer data internally… only if you must
Do not share sensitive customer data with anyone, internally or externally, unless you have to. Be vigilant and not too trusting even if your closest colleagues or subordinates are involved.

Tip #5 – Keep sensitive information to yourself
Do not succumb to interrogation and any form of trickery. If you must discuss it, do it discreetly where no one is within hearing.

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