New York City, New York (PressExposure) April 12, 2011 -- iYogi, the provider of on-demand remote tech support services, has developed a report revealing activities and patterns behind credit card fraud that dupes innocent companies or one-time product sellers into accepting online payments through corporate or personal credit cards that have been stolen. The latest edition of 'iYogi Alerts' helps a computer user learn about credit card fraud and how to protect themselves from it. Based on feedback from its large subscriber base, iYogi continuously monitors and publishes activities to alert other customers of online fraud and scams.
This kind of fraud operates using stolen credit card information. After a transaction goes through, the credit card owner will naturally not pay for items which s/he never bought and the payment will be withheld by the credit card company. As the merchant, you will lose your merchandise to online scam artists and receive possible fines or a chargeback fee by your bank. Avoiding credit card fraud shouldn't interfere with your productivity or demand constant prevention efforts resulting in missing out on possible sales or eating away at personal time. To help you out, the latest iYogi alert reveals specific patterns that make it possible to recognize credit card fraud. Most of the con artists using stolen or fake credit cards place hurried orders for expensive items in bulk, usually late at night, from a free e-mail address which cannot be traced.
What you can do about it:
Check that the physical address of the buyer matches the credit card billing address.
Insist that the customer uses an ISP based e-mail address which can be traced. The ISP address should be in the same area as the customer's address.
Call back the customer at his/her telephone number and verify the order.
Insist on getting the three unique digits on the back of the credit card. These are helpful in validating genuine credit card transactions.
What iYogi has to say:
"As businesses depend more and more on online services to speed up sales, accepting payments through online credit card transactions is also speeding up the chances of becoming the target of credit card fraud," says Vishal Dhar, President Marketing and co-founder iYogi. "While credit card companies are adding extra layers of security to credit card transactions, merchants who accept payments via this mode need to be vigilant and run some basic checks in order to protect themselves from being duped by online criminals."