1st February, 2018
Just as a cheque from a less than reputable customer may bounce, there’s no guarantee that credit card you accepted isn’t stolen – so how do you protect your business from fraud?
Credit cards not only provide customers an incredible convenience, but they also offer holders a good measure of protection in the case of fraud.
It’s designed so that the legitimate cardholder can dispute potentially fraudulent charges at any time – and the weight of protection falls on the merchant.
As a business which accepts credit card payments, you hold the risk of a cardholder simply saying ‘I didn’t pay for that’, and initiating a chargeback process through the bank.
That means the cash you thought you got for providing a good or service simply vanishes if the use of the card is found to be fraudulent.
For a small business, that can be a killer.
It’s all part and parcel of being in the business world, but there are things you can do to lessen your chances of the dreaded chargeback.
Here’s how:
Review your sale orders for anything unusual for example:
• Large orders
• Orders paid by multiple cards to avoid exceeding card limits
• Sale orders where the shipping address is different to the billing address
• Sale orders from different customers being shipped to the same address
While these sale orders might not all be fraudulent, it’s worth the time to review regularly if it seems suspicious.
Call the buyer and verify the order.
Search the internet for the buyer’s name, shipping address, email address and phone number – keeping an eye on consistency between the information.
If you can’t verify a customer’s details, or you’re still suspicious – cancel the order.
If you want to accept various payment options such as debit or credit cards from your customers, you need to take security measures into account.
People like to use credit and debit cards out of convenience, but that goes out the window if they suspect their card details aren’t going to be kept safe.
After all, your customers won’t be too happy if their credit card information gets stolen as your payment processing abilities aren’t up to standard.
Merchant Service Providers, such as MYOB PayBy, have the responsibility for making sure the services they provide keep your customer’s data safe and sound by providing the tools to securely accept credit card payments.