Protecting your online business credit card purchases
The greatest innovation in business, and general, credit card security is the introduction of MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa. If you are using a card online it is important to make sure that you sign up with one of these services, depending on who manages your card payment transactions. They are free and help to prevent unauthorised card use by allowing you to password protect your Internet card use. It is also good to know that these services do not require the ordering of new card and don't need you to download any software to work.
There are many card fraud scams involving unsolicited emails and any email asking for your card details should be treated with extreme caution. Even emails offering links to official websites should be avoided if possible. It is perhaps safer for you to enter any website addresses yourself, or link from a trusted source such as one of the major search engines. If you do choose to link from an email, perhaps one that you trust, you should check the address in the address bar. Fake websites will often have unusual addresses. Fraudulent links in emails can redirect you to pretty much anything, from bank sites to specific goods and services. Criminals are constantly coming up with new schemes so perhaps the safest thing to do is simply ignore the lot.
Another thing to remember when using your business credit card online is to never ever enter your PIN number. It has been agreed that PIN numbers will not by used for online shopping and only be used in cash machines or with chip and pin purchases in store. If you are asked to enter you PIN number on a website then simply report the site to your card company's anti-fraud department. Sites may ask for you cards security code, which is found on the back of the card, and this is fine.
Recently both MasterCard and Visa have introduced extra online security features to help protect the cards that they are connected with. These new systems are called 'MasterCard SecureCode' and 'Verified by Visa' accordingly. Both of these systems allow a further level of password authentication to their card users. These services are provided free of charge and are simple to use. Further more they do not require the download of extra software onto your computer. Once you have visited a website and entered your card details you are likely to be redirected to the vendor's website in order to take advantage of this heightened security.
In 2006 there were over 372 million transactions made online. With such a huge figure it is no surprise that criminals try and invent elaborate schemes to catch out the unwary. However if you are careful, and follow the guideline above, there is no reason why business credit card transactions over the Internet shouldn't be as safe as, if not safer than, card use in the real world.
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