Safe and Secure in My Business Magazine

My Business Magazine - August 2004

Customers trust your e-commerce site with their credit card numbers and personal information.
By Paige Orr

When a $500 order came through his MrExcel.com Web site, Bill Jelen was ecstatic. Then a closer look revealed the customer’s shipping address was in the Philippines, although the credit card address was in South Carolina. Suspicious, Jelen placed a call to VeriSign, his authorization services provider, which confirmed the customer was attempting to use a stolen credit card. Jelen was able to stop the order immediately, saving himself time, product and the charge-back fee merchants pay when fraudulent credit card activity is reported by cardholders.

How can you protect yourself? Jelen advises others to be vigilant in watching e-commerce orders. Approval from the credit card company doesn’t necessarily mean the card is legitimate, he says. If you see an order for an unusually high quantity of products, consider it a red flag and investigate.

As Jelen learned, disaster can be avoided if you compare billing and shipping addresses – take a second look if they’re not in the same city. And when it comes to the threat of hackers, Jelen says he feels safe knowing that credit card numbers never pass through his Web site. Instead, he lets VeriSign handle all secure server transactions.