Tips To Stop Your Business Being Scammed
There are many criminals and scammers present in today’s time to harm you and your company. It would help if you had a check mark on Small Business Scams Prevention steps to protect your business from scams. Just a company IT is not enough to help you here.
Professional business IT support services have the tools and knowledge to safeguard your business from fraud. It is risky to accept credit cards or enter your own card details to buy raw materials or other business necessities online.
You can implement several tools and specialized business IT support to secure your business from fraudsters. Here are three tools that can enhance security by guarding Protecting Small Businesses against scams, the tools are:
- Address Verification
- Card Verification
- 3-D Secure Technology
Almost every credit card owner provides you with the benefits of all three tools. Then, be it for a small fee or free service providers. Let us now explore these tools in greater detail.
1. Address Verification
Address verification is good for preventing fraud for companies and small businesses. It can work for companies that regularly enter credit card information by hand. There are many such businesses, like small retail stores, that still need business loan leads to become stable in the industry. Almost every credit card processing service and other company IT support provides you with information to spot potential fraud.
The service has a way of working; it compares the address and name provided by a customer with information on the files of the relevant credit card issuer. The service provides alphabetic codes. The code indicates the matching of the information or partial match or complete mismatch. These codes are known as AVS codes, and you can learn more about what each code means to you.
You can use these codes to automatically or manually decline transactions or manually review the codes. You can also set filters to decline transactions when one or more specific codes are triggered. Apart from fraud prevention, sometimes the card processing companies also insist on using AVS services.
In such cases, you may save some processing costs since the processor is also ensuring a safe transaction for you.
The charges are nominal in the range of 1 to 10 cents per transaction. Some card processors may also offer a discount on the bulk cost of card processing when you use AVS. The cost of using AVS is very insignificant compared to its advantages. Plus, it can prevent expensive fraud or chargeback.
2. Card Verification Code / Value
CVV and CVC refer to the numerals that are used to verify the authenticity of your credit card. The number appears on your physical card. The businesses cannot store the number. The CVV is to make sure that the customer is in physical ownership of the card while using it. A surety is required as unauthorized people often have only the card number.
When the transaction asks for the CVV, we can recognize the fraudulent purchases. It plays a major role in small business scam prevention. Most cards have three-digit CVV or CVCs that can be found at the back of your card’s signature panel. American Express uses a 4-digit code present on the front side of your card. It is distinct from the card number itself. Business IT support services or Business IT Support Melbourne can guide you better about the protection of your online transactions with this tool.
CVV protects you in the online transaction. It can be a basic defense layer for you. It ensures that the card number is not stolen and that the user is in physical possession of the card. CVV lessens the expenses while manually entering details for in-person transactions. It is a high risk to have Keyed transactions without CVV. The processing cost increases when you move ahead without CVV. When you use CVV, the transaction gains legitimacy and can bring your costs down. Most card issuers do not charge for CVV/CVC, though Master Card does charge a very small fee of $0.0025 for each transaction protected through CVV/CVC.
3. 3D Secure Technology
3D secure technology is another tool for fraud prevention. It has three components in its authentication process. The three components are:
- The Card Company
- You
- Your bank
All three sum up to operate the entire authentication process. The process is essential in case your card gets into the hands of miscreants accidentally. In such cases, the CVV test could be passed easily.
But, if you add the 3D secure tool to the card you could protect your eCommerce businesses. In this situation, the user will need to add a personalized code during checkout which will not be available to miscreants.
If you want to proceed with a card issuer you may need a detailed process mostly. For the transaction process, you may need to contact the related processing company and get a plug-in installed. Even most card issues use chip-based cards. Such cards increase the chances of fraud in online space.
This is why, for protecting small businesses, you should use one or more anti-fraud tools. The tools will protect your interests as well as the interests of your customers.
Another big advantage of 3D Secure is that with MasterCard and Visa, you might be able to shift liability for fraud to the card issuer. It’s considered a strong way to verify identity. Identity verification can protect you in case of disputes or chargebacks. While the technology itself is free, getting the necessary plug-in or hiring a developer to set it up might cost you a bit.
Summing Up
In the digital world, you always have the threat of scams and scammers. Cybercriminals are always hunting for online scams. But we should be aware of the scammers to protect our business and our company. We should learn and apply some techniques to prevent potential frauds from hurting our businesses. Irrespective of whether you own a successful business or are new to the use of credit cards, you should implement these tips and tools to protect your company. Inform your team or ask the processor to take them through a short learning curve.
