Running an online store comes with a tremendous number of perks, including the flexibility to operate your business where and when you’d like. Whether you’re a large business boasting a high volume of sales or a stay-at-home mom managing a modest-sized store, online retailing provides individuals of all walks of life with a level of freedom that a 9-6 office job simply can’t match.

Nonetheless, despite these wondrous advantages, online business owners face a multitude of obstacles unique to their platform, some of which that when left unchecked, prove detrimental to sales, security and overall success. Enter online businesses’ greatest threat: fraud.

While the worldwide eCommerce industry is gigantic – a $1.6 trillion dollar market – it also creates a vast window for individuals to commit cybercrime. With cybercrime taking a variety of forms, it can be difficult for merchants to identify potentially fraudulent transactions.

• Credit and debit card fraud
• Identity theft
• Delivery address fraud
• International purchasing fraud
• Malware that collects a shopper’s personal information from your business’ site

While these threats are serious and can potentially cause the downfall of your business, there are number of proactive steps you can take to help minimize the risk and loss associated with fraud.

• Reduce the likelihood of fraud by implementing card payment security systems such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode.
• Ensure your payment provider support AVS (Address Verification Service), CV2 (the security code on the back of the card) or 3D Secure (such as Verified by Visa).
• Use a fraud profiling service such as FraudWatch to spot potentially fraudulent orders before you process them.
• Check order details for pertinent information. Is the purchaser the actual cardholder? Did they place a high-quantity, high value order that can easily be resold? Use your judgment to discern if further investigation is necessary.
• Verify that the delivery address is valid. You may want to avoid shipping to PO Boxes altogether as they’re often used as bogus addresses.
• Contact a potentially fraudulent shopper with questions about their order. Shoppers guilty of cybercrime almost never target a singular store; subtly quiz your shopper to see if they can recall the details of their order.
• Did your shopper select expedited shipping at checkout? If billing and shipping addresses differ, this could be a red flag. Take measures to ensure the order is not fraudulent, such as calling the provided phone number.
• Ship your products with a tracking code to prove delivery. For high-value shipments, require a signature. Don’t get caught in a potentially messy dispute when delivery can easily be verified via a tracking code.
• Make sure your systems and services are PCI compliant. 3dcart merchants, rest at east -- 3dcart is PCI DDS compliant, having met and surpassed all standards outlined by the PCI Security Standards council with flying colors.
• Prevent the theft of customer details by ensuring your computer security measures, including Firewall and Anti-Virus, are up to par.

Fraud is a curse that has plagued the eCommerce industry for years, and unfortunately, shows no signs of letting up. According to Lexis-Nexis, fraud cost merchants more than $102 billion dollars last year alone, with this figure expected to rise dramatically as years pass by.

No matter how many security measures you implement, there’s no sure, fool-proof way to preventing fraud 100% of the time. But, with vigilance and the implementation of several measures, you can drastically reduce your chances of lost revenue and compromised security as a result of fraud.