Prevent Fraud On Your Yahoo Store

Yahoo stores are becoming more and more popular with entrepreneurs wanting to expand their businesses online. Yahoo stores offer safe and private transactions with minimal risk to the customers and business owners. Although the risk is low there are still crimes being committed on the internet. The leading internet crime in America is identity theft and many Americans have fallen victim to internet hackers stealing their credit card numbers and social security numbers to rack up fraudulent charges unfortunately banks will not protect you against internet fraud because of the MOTO Rule. The MOTO Rule states that all website owners are responsible and 100% liable for fraudulent charges to a credit card. When starting up your online business you need to be fully prepared to research each sale to assure that your company is not being scammed. Here are some tips to remember when processing your orders to properly spot a scam artist.

Request two numbers from the customer to have a primary and back up number to call in case of any questions. If the order seems a little suspicious you can always call the customer to verify their information. If you come across a suspicious order and call them, ask questions. Make them verify their billing address, the name on the credit card and the phone number. If the customer can not verify the billing address there is a pretty high possibility that this is a criminal and does not possess the correct information for this card, just the stolen card number. Always make sure that the customer’s shipping address matches the customer’s home address. If the addresses don’t match you should do a little more to research this order to assure that the order is not fraudulent. One of the best ways to catch fraud is by suspicious billing addresses like 123 Southwest Road. When the billing address is different than the shipping address it is often someone buying a gift and having it shipped to their house but another reason may be that the criminal wants the product shipped to their “drop spot” and not to the stolen card owner’s home.

You can also deter criminals from potentially scamming your store by posting notices and pictures on your home page to inform customers and criminals that fraudulent activity will not be tolerated. Let them know that if they try to scam your company that you will press charges to the full extent of the law. Public displayed notices against fraudulent activity will warn off criminals that are trying to look for the easy money and attract customers who want to feel safer knowing that the store they are purchasing their products from and submitting personal information to will do everything in your power to prevent someone from stealing their identity.

Another sign of fraudulent activity is a buyer that demands overnight delivery of his items to his shipping address. Since the scam artist isn’t paying for the shipping he will not be concerned with how much it is going to cost to ship but instead getting the item fast before the stolen credit card owner realizes that their credit card is stolen and cancels the credit card. They will want to get it in a hurry. If someone places an expensive order and requests for the item to be dropped off at the front door of their home, be suspicious that a thief may be using this address as their “Drop Spot”. If an order is for a high priced item, always request that it be signed for.

Not every customer is a potential criminal so if you come across suspicious orders through your yahoo store don’t start pushing them away until you know for sure that they are intending to be dishonest to you and your customers. Do the proper research and your new business venture will be worth your while. If by chance you do come across a fraudulent order and catch it the Yahoo Store will make sure that the scam artist will never return with their IP address blocking tools.