As e-commerce businesses are spreading worldwide, cybercriminals and fraudsters are also getting really active in gaining personal or financial advantage at the expense of your business reputation, profits, and operations.
Of course, e-commerce businesses avail of the e-commerce merchant services to make sure the debit or credit card payments from the customers safely reach the account of the merchant. Still, cyber perpetrators find different ways to conduct fraud, such as BIN attack, chargeback fraud, refund fraud, account takeover fraud, and affiliate fraud.
If you own and operate your e-commerce business, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Therefore, we’ll discuss different practical ways to help you avoid fraud in this article. Read below to know!
1. Regularly Conduct Security Audits
In order to get ahead of the criminals, you must conduct regular security audits on your website. It is more like a preventative measure to ensure your business’s online transactions remain secure.
You should check if your SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is working correctly. You must also scan your website for malware regularly. If there are inactive plugins, make sure to remove them.
All your shopping cart software and plugins should be up-to-date. Creating strong passwords for your admin accounts, CMS, and hosting dashboards will also be your best bet.
2. Ask for CVV (Card Verification Value) For Online Purchases
CVV numbers can be found on the backside of the credit/debit cards. They are usually 3-digit numbers, which ensure that the credit or debit card is actually in the possession of the rightful owner.
Therefore, asking every customer to enter CVV numbers in the transaction details while making a payment will prevent fraudulent transactions, and you will be at peace of mind knowing that the customers have “real” cards with them.
3. Use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)
You can buy an SSL certificate in order to use HTTPS for your website. Many well-known e-commerce stores use HTTPS in their web address to ensure that the transaction between your store and your customer’s browser is encrypted.
In other words, online hackers won’t be able to retrieve your customers’ sensitive and confidential personal/financial information. This way, your transactions will be safe and secure.
4. Make Sure the IP Address And The Credit Card Address Match
Whenever a customer makes an online purchase, you will be able to see the IP address as well. This usually tells about the location (country) of the customer from where they are making the purchase.
You can compare this with the address of the credit card to make sure that the transaction is legit. Otherwise, you can immediately take action accordingly.
5. Be PCI Compliant
PCI stands for Payment Card Industry, and PCI standards are created and managed by the PCI Security Standards Council. If your e-commerce store is PCI compliant, it will give a positive impression to your customers as they will know that their card details will be secure and they will receive goods in return.
On the other hand, your business transactions will be carried out smoothly and securely as you need to follow and implement several security protocols, so you don’t have to worry about possible fraud.