E-Commerce business is constantly growing and in 2014, global sales amounted more than $1,5 trillion. This business method comes with many benefits, one of the most important ones being its ability to overcome geographic limitations and target customers from other cities or sometimes even from other countries. This fast growth is also followed by growth in cyber-crime rates, and hackers often target big retail businesses and try to steal buyers’ data.
In this article we reviewed risks connected with online transactions, and ways that can be used to avoid becoming a victim of cyber criminals’ actions. Here is how to secure your online transactions.
Risks:
Each online transaction done on unsecured and unreliable e-commerce website comes with a big set of risks. That’s why sticking to reliable e-commerce stores run by big and popular companies is the most important security measure. These are some of the most popular frauds that target online transactions:
→ Internet auction frauds– these frauds target people who buy things on websites like eBay. Scammer posts a bid on the item that he will allegedly sell to the highest bidder. In most cases item is either non-existent or it is different and much cheaper than the item described in a bid.
→ Credit card frauds– credit card frauds happen when cyber-criminals obtain credit card information of buyers, by placing a fraudulent e-commerce website (phishing), intercepting credit card information or hacking e-commerce website databases.
Credit card payments:
Credit card payments are the most vulnerable way to pay goods and services you buy online. That’s why using credit cards for retail purchases needs to be followed by security measures that will ensure that you won’t become a victim of cyber criminals. Buyers who uses credit cards on an unknown website need to:
→ Check website’s privacy policy– privacy policy should define the ways company uses buyers’ data. For buyers it is important to avoid websites that are keeping credit card data. Reason for this is because stored credit card information can be easily hacked by cyber criminals.
→ Check whether checkout pages are secure– checkout pages need to have the highest level of security. They need to run SSL protocol, and this can be checked by looking at the address bar, where page address should start with ‘https’ instead of ‘http’ (Look at the left top corner of this webpage).
→ Check whether e-commerce website is PCI compliant– each e-commerce website needs to compliant to list of 12 credit card security standards.
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Benefits of online paying systems:
With so many risks that come with credit card transactions, the use of online paying systems can be a great way to make online transactions more secure. These 3rd party paying systems connect with credit cards and authorize their payments on different e-commerce websites with leaving only buyers’ e mail address. Most online payment systems come with complex security layers that keep cyber criminals away from user’s credit card data, and by leaving only e mail addresses on e-commerce websites use of online payment systems also prevent hackers from obtaining buyers’ credit card information. Those payment system should be user-friendly, without an endless loop of forms and agreement terms. You would want an authorized payment service provider, which provides risk free payment gateways, as well.
Escrow – for bigger transactions:
Systems that work on escrow concept provide the most secure ways for online paying. These are designed exclusively for bigger online transactions, since there’s a neutral party that holds the funds, until physical assets are exchanged. This system holds funds until both parties fulfill their obligations and then release them in form of regular transactions.
Online paying is surviving its renaissance and soon most people will shift towards online paying systems. This way buyers’ funds will be more secure, and people will start using e-commerce as a prime mean for obtaining goods.
We hope, this article will help you to make right decision while making an online payment next time.
About Author: This article is written by Sonya Watts. She is a passionate business consultant from Melbourne, Australia with five-year experience. She has a wide range of interests, including online writing, technology trends and marketing in general and likes to share her own experiences in those fields. You can find her on Twitter – @wattsmsonya.
We thank you Sonya for sharing these informations for our users.
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