Anyone who works with credit cards is vulnerable to credit card fraud. Consumers constantly have to worry about lurking eyes stealing a glance at their credit card information, much like businesses need to be on high alert for hackers anxious to access their customer data. To stir the pot further, businesses also need to be concerned about criminals compromising their company accounts.
Fortunately, responsible companies can take steps to protect their company credit cards and their customers’ financial information. Here are six tips for protecting your firm’s pocketbook from credit card fraud.
Utilize virtual cards
Virtual cards offer unique 16-digit numbers to settle a payment. These cardless cards are processed the same way as tactile cards, but the virtual numbers are only used for one transaction.
Since the numbers change for each transaction, hackers cannot steal the financial data. Virtual cards like those from Divvy (https://getdivvy.com/) help businesses streamline cash flow and protect their accounts by removing the financial data from criminals’ reach.
Review statements daily
If you aren’t reviewing your statements each day, you could be allowing hackers easy access to your financial information. The fastest way to catch fraud is to look for unauthorized or unusual transactions, like those under $1. As soon as you see a suspicious transaction, contact your bank for immediate help.
Reduce access to your business credit cards
Only the people who need to use the business card should have access to it. You can protect access by keeping the cards in the office and keeping a record of who uses each card and how much each user spent. Check usage records against statements to watch for potential problems.
Arrange for notifications for credit card use
If you want to keep close tabs on your credit card use, arrange for notifications. Yes, you’ll receive many notifications each time someone uses the card. But notifications can be the first line of defense against fraud.
Help your customers with fraud prevention
When you accept orders from customers, you can help them by requiring data for all transactions. At a minimum, you should require zip codes for each transaction. That will prevent criminals from using stolen credit card numbers to make purchases.
Customers who place online orders should input their complete addresses to help prevent fraudulent purchases that create problems and frustrations.
Train your front line staff to look for fraudulent transactions
When businesses train employees to look for fraud, they are less likely to have financial problems. Employees should know to look for specific signs that include:
- Unknown customers buying more than a typical customer orders
- Credit card payments with sequential numbers
- An excessive amount of rush orders with overnight shipping
- Several individual orders with the same credit card numbers
This increased financial literacy from employees can help keep your business and your customers safe from cybercriminals.
Final word
Unfortunately, credit card fraud affects businesses and customers more than the criminals using the cards.
If criminals receive products before the fraud is detected, businesses lose income as they can be responsible for refunding money to the credit card owner. Customers lose out by waiting for new credit cards and dealing with the businesses that received the fraudulent orders.
By using the above tips, you can help keep your clients and employees safe from the effects of fraudulent credit card use.
