Fraud protection is huge in the online world. Because you can’t actually see a card, it makes it difficult to ensure that it is real. However, this is one of the most important things to do as a a business owner. Fraudulent activity is among the top reasons that business don’t make it, especially online business. So, in order to avoid that you need to make sure you have the right practices and tools in place to avoid fraud. There are a combination of things that you can do in order to offer fraud prevention for card not present transactions.

1. First of all, make sure that the phone number and transaction information are always verified. Before you ship off any products ordered, you should call the phone number provided and make sure that the transaction information is correct. Often times, criminals don’t have all the other information connected to the card like shipping and billing addresses. If it is a criminal, chances are they are just trying to max out the credit card before they are found out. They tend to just order quickly and hastily without keeping records.




2. Keep a close eye or priority shipment transactions. There was a meme that circulated around social media a while back that said “When you have no problem spending 227 dollars while shopping online but the 8 dollar shipping fee makes you question everything.” It’s funny because it’s true. That may be an exaggeration but no one likes to pay shipping. That’s why priority shipping requests may be an indication of fraudulent activity; criminals don’t really care about shipping fees when they aren’t using their own money anyway. This is especially true if there was a free shipping option available but it was passed over.




3. Repeat customers that tend to order to same kinds of things all the time and then all of sudden stray from their regular pattern could be another indication. If you see an order from a past customer that differs from how they normally act, it’s a good idea to contact the customer to validate the order. They will appreciate you being proactive if the charge is fraudulent and if it’s not, they will still appreciate you looking out for them. It will make them feel safe in your hands during their card not present transactions.




4. You should research and purchase fraud prevention tools for your site. There are many out there and looking into them will let you know which kind would be best for you. Make sure that it is a reputable source and company that you are buying your fraud prevention tools from. Card not present transactions are a sensitive matter and they are typically how criminals take advantage of people in fraudulent activity. There are actually seemingly legitimate fraud prevention tools that are actually fraudulent themselves so make sure you do the research and find reviews and referrals for these types of tools.




5. Card security codes are the last three numbers on the back of most debit or credit card. It is helpful to always ask for these because if the criminal doesn’t have the card in hand but only the numbers, chances are he doesn’t have those numbers on the back. These three numbers help to verify that the purchaser actually has the card in hand at the time of the card not present transaction.




6. There are fraud prevention services connected to Visa and MasterCard that you can take advantage of. They offer them to e-commerce merchants as well as online shoppers in order to enable the cardholders to validate themselves to the card issuer by using a password that they made up when registering their cards. This adds an extra layer of protection for them because now not only will a criminal need to provide the card information as well as the billing address connected, but they would have to know the password attached to the card as well. It’s a great way to stop criminals in their tracks even if they happen to get a hold of the physical card.

Adhering to these easy steps will make your business more trustworthy to consumers, which should be your number one priority.