Undoubtedly, the transformation of the business from traditional mode to digital one has opened up countless opportunities for sellers and merchants globally. It has allowed them to export and sell their products worldwide instead of staying limited to specific geographic locations. As a result, their growth rate has enhanced exponentially, giving them a space to create a worldwide identity.
However, despite all this, one significant downside to ecommerce business is the constant rise in the fraud rate. Scammers and fraudulent elements have developed novel and technical ways to get people trapped and hurt them morally and financially. That’s why it is essential for you as a seller to stay one step ahead of such dangerous and damaging entities to prevent yourself from suffering a severe loss.
So, this blog post will guide you on how to protect yourself from fraud as an online merchant.
Let’s discuss it without further ado.
Guidelines for Merchants to Escape Online Frauds
Online fraud is an attempt to bypass merchants during a commercial transaction over the Internet. Therefore, you need to stay extra cautious to evade yourself from suffering financial loss.
Following are some of the techniques that you can use to do so:
Know The Whereabouts of the Buyers
The primary thing you need to do is to determine the identity of a buyer placing an order at your store to ensure that the entity is not a fake one. As buyers of merchants are usually brands that buy products in bulk, it is easy to figure out the truth behind an entity. You can take a screenshot of the profile or the profile picture interacting with you and search by image of the profile using a photo finder. Consequently, some visually similar results will get loaded on your screen. Following the results, you can draw different observations to know the truth.
For example, suppose you see that all the details on your screen given by the image search results lead to one platform. In that case, you can mark the entity as genuine however, if you see some suspicious details, such as the difference between the brand logo on the profile interacting with you and on social media pages or the difference in the name on their email and website. In that case, you should become more cautious. To be more sure, you can ask for further details from the buyer until you get satisfied.
Conduct Regular Site Audits
Merchants must regularly examine their sites to avoid online fraud and safeguard their companies. Site audits comprise a thorough examination of your website’s security protocols, payment methods, and overall online infrastructure to spot weaknesses and rectify any potential dangers.
First and foremost, site audits assist you in locating and closing any security gaps that can be present on your website. The strategies used by cybercriminals are continually changing, and new vulnerabilities may appear over time.
By routinely analyzing your website, you can find any potential holes, such as out-of-date software, unsafe payment gateways, or poor encryption techniques.
Additionally, site audits show your dedication to security and foster client trust. You can reassure your clients that their data is protected by frequently reviewing your site and putting strong security measures in place. It will increase their trust in your company and lower the likelihood of fraud-related events.
Keep The Purchases Limited
It is another helpful practice that you can adopt to prevent ecommerce fraud. You should restrict the number of purchases an entity can make on your store at a time or a day. Moreover, keeping the order capacity as minimum as possible would be best.
As a result, there would be separate transactions for all the orders. Therefore, even if someone succeeds in bypassing you, the loss won’t be much more significant. On the contrary, if you don’t put any limit on the number of orders, then anyone can damage you more than your capacity to bear if they succeed in bypassing your security and transactional systems.
Use Secure Payment Channels
Lastly, you should use secure payment gateways to ensure fair and smooth transactions to your accounts. To do so, you must integrate payment systems that have strong security checkout and hold the capacity to detect fake credit cards and numbers. Instead of going for wire payment gateways, you must take help from credible sources like Payoneer and PayPal for the financial management of your business. These systems demand card verification value (CVV) from the customers instead of completing payments without them. The CVV requirement ensures that people use original credit cards to transact in your store. Moreover, the surveillance systems of these payment channels can easily cross-check the buying entities’ IP and credit card addresses to verify their identity. Therefore, the chances of fraud on your platform get reduced by far and large.
Final Remarks
These are some rudimental and practical approaches you can use to evade ecommerce fraud online. If you execute these methods rightly and with commitment and passion, no one can dodge you with their false tricks and methods.