This newsletter is only sent to subscribers. Identity fraud is the primary means utilized to commit this Cybercrime. If we, as key participants in e-commerce do not band together to institute appropriate risk management measures this growing cancer could threaten the existence of any company.
Merchants first have to recognize their actual risk.
I am constantly surprised and alarmed by the number of merchants to whom I speak who do not even recognize their liability. As we all know, the vast majority of e-commerce transactions are paid for through the use of credit cards. Many merchants labor under the misperception that if they receive an authorization for the credit card number presented for payment they do not carry the liability for any fraudulent chargebacks. So the merchant is susceptible to losses consisting of the actual cost of goods, shipping charges and, if the situation gets bad enough, penalty fees from the credit card associations or the possibility that their ability to accept credit card payments be revoked. In the frenzy to open businesses quickly and take advantage of this high-tech gold rush, many merchants both large and small have neglected to institute very basic fraud prevention measures that could save their businesses.