Keeping One Eye Open: These 8 Red Flags Will Help You Spot Fraudulent Transactions

While e-commerce has greatly grown within recent years, the threat of fraudulent transactions is also unfortunately higher. In fact, according to the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), a survey of 700 finance and treasury professionals found that a whopping 78 percent of organizations received at least one fraudulent transaction.

As one can imagine, fraudulent transactions can cause immense losses for business big and small. Although you can never be so safe, there are fortunately ways you as the merchant can spot fraudulent transactions before they occur:

1. Faster shipping requested for high-value items

Especially when purchasing valuable items, fraudsters will want the items as quickly as possible. That said, they may pay for the fastest method of shipping. This ensures that the products ship out and get in their hands before the cardholder even realizes there’s a suspicious transaction on their card and has it removed.

2. Abnormally large orders

While it’s possible a large order is genuine, sometimes this is may be a result of a fraudulent transaction. From a fraudster’s perspective, they’ll want to purchase as much as they possibly can within a short period of time they may have.

3. Several small orders

As an alternative to placing a suspiciously large order, fraudsters might instead place several smaller orders. However, some credit cards will automatically shut off if there are several items purchased within a slim time frame. Of course, not all cards have this level of security.

4. Orders placed to different addresses from the same card

Because it looks suspicious to place a very large order or multiple small orders, fraudsters might think they’ll get away with their fraudulent act if they send orders to various addresses. Be wary of this.

5. Delivery to an office building or P.O. box

To avoid having their personal address on file, thus making if harder to track down them down, fraudsters might have their order delivered to an office or P.O. box instead. Especially if they are placing a large order, having their items sent to an office building might initially look less suspicious as it might merely seem like they would resell the items to the public legally.

6. In-store pickup

There are two reasons a scammer might opt for in-store pickup after placing an order: 1) to get the items they purchased before the cardholder cancels the transaction, and 2) to ensure there isn’t an address tied to their purchase.

7. Mismatched billing and shipping addresses

If a customer’s billing and shipping addresses don’t match up, this is one sign that the transaction is suspicious. Additionally, multiple orders to multiple addresses may share the same billing address or incorrect zip codes.

8. Inability to confirm customer information

If you cannot confirm a customer’s information, or they intentionally fail to provide it, you might also have a fraudster on your hands. Non-scammers should have no problem sharing general shipping and payment information.

While businesses can’t truly eliminate the risks of potentially fraudulent transactions, they can still do everything in their power to avoid such. Fortunately, Netverify offers a total solution to know and trust your customers.

Conclusion

Although at times, fraudulent transactions can be inevitable, one of the best things you can do as a merchant is keeping your eyes peeled for any suspicious orders. By spotting and reporting fraud, you can save your business, and potentially others’ businesses, from dealing with heavy financial losses.

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Power outages are temporary but the damage might not be- Insure the future of your property with a UPS system

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Given the day and age in which we live, it is absolutely safe to assume that regardless of our occupations, we all have some type of electrically powered service that we would hate to lose. A lot of businesses today rely on data which is stored as digital information on large computers. Similarly, networks use large server rooms to house all the physical servers which host thousands upon thousands of ideas, notes, identity’s and overall information. Of course, it’s not all about computers. We could be talking about other power dependent gear  that can suffer a lot from a power outage.

Depending on where you’re sitting when a cut in power supply occurs, it could be a bummer, problem, or downright tragedy. If we’re talking about a large organization, a cut from electrical power can result in a sever loss of productivity that in the end translates to losing a lot of money.

Here’s where UPS systems come in. Just to clear the air, UPS stands for uninterruptible power supply or source. The purpose of these systems is to provide temporary backup for a power depended appliance/system/machine, so that virtually no downtime occurs in the case of a power cut from the main source. Keep in mind that UPS systems are different than backup power solutions in the sense that they are not designed to substitute a main power source, but rather to keep things going for a short period of time until the backup solution intervenes. Thus, UPS systems only hold enough power for a couple of minutes usually.

You can think of them as the hand you put over a leaking hole until you can strap a piece of tape in place, before cementing the hole. Or in other words, we are looking at the intermediate between the main solution and its backup. While it doesn’t sound all that critical the way it was portrayed just now, UPS systems have a crucial role in keeping systems running at all times. When the main power source goes down, it only takes the slightest instance before the UPS saves the day.

This both a productivity insurance mechanism as well as a safety precaution. When we say safety, we mean for both machine and potentially the user. Computer components often times get burnt due to power outages, while other situations make it dangerous to be left without a power source. When human lives are in danger.

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Safety Supplies that Are Essential to Most Workplaces

Be sure to stock up on essential Safety Supplies for your business ... photo by CC user Anna Frodesiak via wikimedia commons

Photo by CC user Anna Frodesiak via Wikimedia Commons

When you own or operate a business of any type, certain equipment and supplies are necessary if you want your business to grow. All businesses need certain items, such as computer and printing equipment, furniture and numerous other supplies essential to making the business a success. Some of the most important types of supplies are those related to making the business’s workplace safer, which includes a variety of products and supplies that are invaluable and usually very reasonably priced. Companies such as UK Commercial Group offer many safety supplies, and items that businesses are required by law to have around are included.

Types of Safety Supplies Offered by These Companies

UK Commercial Supplies, a sub-group of the UK Commercial Group, and companies like it offer safety supplies that include:

  • Restraint lanyards
  • Disposable overshoes
  • First aid kits
  • Accident books
  • Comfort masks
  • Gloves of all types, including household and examination gloves
  • Constructor jackets, sweatshirts, vests and polo shirts
  • Comfort harnesses
  • Boiler suits
  • Ear defenders
  • Eyewash stations of all types
  • Hairnets
  • Goggles for a variety of uses
  • Knee pads
  • Face guards
  • Posters detailing health and safety law
  • Steel carabiners
  • Asbestos coveralls
  • Hard hats

No business wants to have a potential lawsuit on its hands, so keeping your employees safe from harm is of utmost importance. Items like those listed above protect workers in a wide variety of industries and provide a safe place for them to work. Keeping employees safe is not only important to avoid lawsuits, but also because it is simply the humane thing to do. Workers should not have to go to work fearing for their safety or their lives, and safety products help protect them so that they don’t have to think about things such as this while they are working.

Safety Is Not Just About Products and Supplies

Naturally, there are things a business should do to keep its employees safe, including, but not limited to, the purchase of a variety of safety supplies. Most businesses, however, do whatever is required by law, and often more, in order to keep their employees safe while at work. Companies such as UK Commercial Supplies also offer a variety of safety supplies that can assist businesses that care about their employees, and that also want to make sure they comply with all national laws regarding employee safety.

As many people are already aware, safety supplies are usually very reasonably priced. Companies such as UK Commercial Supplies even have a way to order the supplies you need online, which is fast, simple and convenient. In addition to basic safety supplies, companies like this also offer supplies for winter safety, including rock salt, snow scoops, rock salt spreaders, and insulated gloves and hats. Whatever your business needs, companies such as these offer high-quality items that are simple and quick to order, inexpensive and effective. They do their jobs well, so that you can do yours even better and protect yourself in the meantime.

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