Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest Computer Systems Inc., in Ashland, Ore., immediately put a hold on his e-commerce plans. The credit card companies didn't have a whole lot of answers for us when we asked how to protect ourselves.
Reeves is smart to be asking the question before launching a site.
Seeing only the monetary sparkle of the holiday buying season, many companies have accelerated their e-commerce efforts without preparing for the threat posed by increasing levels of online fraud. Such companies often can't afford expensive fraud detection products and services any more than they can big losses due to fraud. Therefore, like Reeves, they should develop an anti-fraud strategy before they launch, experts say. Fortunately, there are techniques that can help cut losses. The high price of fraud Help is coming none too soon.