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Businesses Beware - They Are Coming -
Why You Need To Worry
By: Ewebsecure
The tremendous growth in identity theft means that businesses will face
increasing risks of fraud transactions against them from both on and offline
attempts.
Criminals can use stolen information to create fake identity cards to
support the fake credit card and execute sales.
They are also increasingly flocking to the web where they hope to find
web merchants eager to sell. This is a lower risk tactic, as they will
usually order goods in smaller amounts to outside jurisdictions thus minimizing
the risk of enforcement from police. In this case, it is the merchants
that pay the ultimate financial price as all non face to face transactions
are subject to charge backs in the case of fraud. In the case of online
fraud, it is estimated that $2.6 billion will be lost to online fraud
at a growth rate of over 37% and be approx 6% of company revenue.
With the undeniable evidence of online fraud, MERCHANTS MUST
BEWARE. They are coming! There is not other reason for criminals
to commit identify theft except to victimize businesses.
Merchants must develop screening tools and report fraud attempts to police.
Credit acrd provides offer basic tools suchs as AVS
and CVV2 but are elementary in nature and are not enough to stop fraud
attempts. Reporting fraud attempts may seem in vain, but law enforcement
requires data so that they may identify thieves and stop criminals. This
will in turn reduce criminal interest in identify theft and make all our
lives easier.
How Rampant Is It?
Identity theft describes the loss of personal private information to
criminals who then use that information to impersonate your identity for
the purposes of stealing money or obtaining stolen goods. This could be
in the form of having your credit card stolen or information obtained
could be used to impersonate you for the purpose of obtaining new credit
cards. With the ever growing amount of internet users (207,161,706 internet
users as of August/2006, 69.3% of the US population, according to Nielsen//NetRatings)
criminals are flocking to this area as it offers huge potential, while
law enforcement face difficulties in combating these crimes.
Other evidence of this growing trend include:
- In 2005 over 50 million consumer records exposed
- According to the FTC, more than one in ten Americans — nearly
25 million adults in the United States — were victims of some
type of consumer fraud in 2003
- A May 2005 consumer survey by First
Data found that 43 percent of respondents had received a phishing
contact, and of those, 5 percent (approximately 4.5 million people)
provided the requested personal information. Nearly half of the phishing
victims, 45 percent, reported that their information was used to make
an unauthorized transaction, open an account, or commit another type
of identity theft.
- Jan 18, 2007 CIBC Loses data on 470,000
Talvest customers
Identity theft can be perpetrated in a number of ways:
Break & Enter - thieves can steal your personal
information from mail or personal files
Robbery - losing your wallet or purse that has your
personal data
Cell Phone Tapping - there are electronic listening
devices that can intercept communications and listen in. Be careful not
to give personal details like credit card information over the phone
Telemarketing Scams - Personal information should never
be given over the phone, especially date of birth or Social Insurance
Numbers. Know who you are dealing with. If you need to, call back the
organization and make sure they really exist before you deal with them.
No reputable bank will ask you for these details, if they do, refuse,
after all they have called you.
Hacking - computer savvy criminals can hack into databases
and steal personal information. These days, all personal information is
stored in a database. Be aware that wherever you submit your personal
information, it is vulnerable to attack.
Phishing - here, victims receive emails from criminals
who duplicate reputable company letterhead or attempt to assume the identity
of an entity you may do business with, including government agencies.
They then hope you click into their fake web site and be fooled into submitting
personal information that they will then use to take over your accounts.
Always approach email links with caution, check the web browser address
bar to make sure you indeed at the right site. If you are not sure, log
in the regular way and avoid clicking on the email link.
Consequences - More Then Just One Victim
When one losses their identity, they often
can reduce their financial loss from stolen credit cards. Credit card
companies offer protection for victims as they hope to maintain card holder
confidence. Credit card providers also take no loss from these charges
as merchant sellers take all the loss.
But, in some cases, the victim of identity theft can become blacklisted
for future loans, or other areas that they may not be aware of including
criminal charges where they assumed the victims identity. This can become
a nightmare in trying to get records corrected and continue on for years
and years after the crime. See also our article on "Credit
Card Fraud - The Consumer Is Protected, But Are They?"
Businesses must implement fraud prevention strategies. As attempts continue
to mount, investments must be made in reducing or deflecting fraud attempts
on their sites.
Ewebsecure provides fraud
prevention tools, reporting services and representation for the business
victim with law enforcement. Our fraud prevention badge tells fraudsters
that a business will Ewebsecure will help merchants detect, stop, report
and enforce fraud attempts against that organization. For less then $1
a day, merchants can take steps to bring fraud to zero.
Ewebsecure provides third party certification services that have proven
effective in boosting web site conversion rates by up to 20%. Learn more
about our products and how they can benefit you. Use Privacy
Secured™ and Fraud Secure™
to boost your business today.
To report identity theft:
US Department
Of Justice
California
- Office Of Privacy Protection
US Identity Theft Of Your
Social Security
Identity Theft Among Students
Identity Theft
In Canada RCMP
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