When your company isn’t covered by enhanced fraud protection, thieves can use your credit card to
make transactions or get cash advances in your name. The theft may occur with an active account,
through theft of your credit cards, account numbers, and PINs, or by opening new credit cards in
your name. Once they are inside, thieves rack up debt that must be paid by you and your credit card
provider. Although being cheated is undoubtedly a huge nuisance, it’s unlikely to have a long-term
negative financial impact.
Dealing with credit card fraud often comes at additional, unforeseen costs, such as time and
annoyance. Investigations into theft by credit card companies can take months, and ongoing
problems can harm your credit, which takes time to repair. Credit card fraud does not just affect
individuals. It can be all too easy for business owners to leave their funds open to criminal behaviour
due to the demands of running a company, which can have major financial repercussions. Although
some thieves would use lost or stolen credit cards to conduct unauthorised purchases, fraud can
occur without a real credit card.
Obtaining crucial information like an account number and the identity of the account holder allows
criminals to engage in fraudulent activities online. Without the credit card ever leaving the account
holder’s control, they can even do it by mail or phone. Every firm must exercise extreme caution
when managing and keeping an eye on their credit accounts.
Forms of Credit Card Fraud
A variety of con games are employed by fraudsters to register new accounts or collect card
information from victims. Some contemporary techniques for card fraud include:
Card theft: This is the standard procedure for stealing a physical credit card, whether it’s from a
restaurant table or a full wallet or pocketbook. Newly issued cards may be stolen from mailboxes by
some crooks.
Account takeover: To take control of your account (and lock you out), some criminals contact the
card issuer using your personal information to modify your account’s access PINs, passwords, mailing
addresses, and other details.
Cloned cards: When you swipe your card, fraudsters may take it covertly using “skimmers” that fit
over card scanners at petrol pumps and retail sales terminals.
Card-not-present theft: This involves using a credit card account fraudulently without having a
physical card. Your information may be obtained by fraudsters through hacking or phishing, and
some thieves sell card data on the dark web.
How to stop company credit card fraud?
Fortunately, there are several preventive measures that businesses can take to reduce the risk of
credit card theft and spot unusual activity before it causes long-term issues.
Review statements frequently
Unauthorised activity can be taking place without your notice because thieves do not necessarily
need to have a physical company credit card in their possession to commit fraud. The first sign that
you’ve become a victim of fraud may be erroneous purchases on a business credit card statement.
Verify your statements frequently so you can see any unusual expenses. To make the process simple,
think about performing weekly reviews using online banking tools. Make careful to notify the credit
card company of any difficulties as soon as you can.
Make sure the data on your credit card is secure
Prevention is the greatest form of defence when it comes to company credit card fraud. Make sure
the business credit card is kept in a secure place and is only carried on you when necessary.
Fraudsters using unlawful devices known as skimmers can be stopped by using wallets with built-in
strip-reader protection and asking for an EMV chip card. These gadgets extract data from a credit
card’s magnetic strip, and the data is subsequently encoded into fake cards.
Reputable sources should not receive your credit card information. Make sure the website is
trustworthy if you’re buying something online. When a site is secure, your browser may display a
small padlock icon. Never give out personal or financial information over the phone unless you are
certain that the caller is a reliable source.
Restricting usage of company credit cards
The risk of fraud due to human mistake and money misuse decreases as the number of people
having access to a company’s credit cards decreases. Only the most dependable employees should
have access, and there should be processes in place to analyse, approve, and keep an eye on
purchase requests. Additionally, you can benefit from the many security protections that your credit
card provider provides. One of these may be automatic expense reports that show your spending.
On staff cards, credit limitations can also be imposed.
Remember to change your passwords
When utilising online banking accounts and software, create distinct and complicated passwords. To
lessen the chance that hackers will obtain access to your accounts, change them frequently.
Applications like 1Password and LastPass can help you manage and save complex login information
while also enabling you to safely share this information with staff members. Additionally, some
credit card firms use technology to eliminate the need for conventional passwords. These may
include voice-identity recognition for telephone banking or fingerprint app logins, both of which are
far more reliable ways to confirm an account holder’s identity.
Be cautious when following commands
Establish safeguards to lessen the possibility of accepting orders submitted using fraudulent credit
cards if you run an online store. When accepting payment, make sure to have all the credit card
details, including the account holder’s full address and phone number. This will prevent thieves from
utilising stolen card information to make purchases. Orders with separate billing and shipping
addresses should be avoided, especially if they are large next-day orders. Companies that take credit
cards, like Stripe, will automatically highlight problems like false addresses.
How to protect your business from credit card fraud?
Credit card fraud can happen if you are accepting card payments through a card machine for
business for running your brick and motor store. But by keeping a close eye on your accounts and by
taking the above-discussed measurements it can card fraud can be prevented up to an extent. There
are other digital tools that can assist you in staying on top of attempted fraud in addition to credit
monitoring and identity monitoring. Utilise such technologies to stop cheaters from taking
advantage of you.
If you believe someone has stolen your credit card or see unusual activity on your account, you must
report credit card fraud immediately. Get in touch with your credit card provider so they can
deactivate the card, investigate the activity to see if there has been fraud, and then issue you a new
card. After you have notified the credit card company of the problem, file a police report locally and
make a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. By calling a credit bureau, you may also put up a
fraud alert and request a copy of your company credit report for inspection. Finally, update any PINs
and passwords that may have been hacked to lessen the chance of fraud happening again in the
future.
