Advantages of setting up your business online
Reduced operating costs
To increase profits, businesses must do to things: boost revenue and reduce costs. The act of reducing costs can be painful, as it often means doing without something you would prefer to have. However, if a business is dangerously close to not being able to deal with its liabilities -- or if it is already past that point -- reducing costs can be an absolutely necessary way of changing a bad situation. While every business's circumstances are different, certain opportunities for cost reduction are common for most businesses.
It's
estimated that each day around £1.2m is lost due to card fraud in the UK –
which works out as one theft every nine seconds – and one in every three people
has been a victim of card fraud.
The
introduction of chip-and-Pin technology has helped to curb the problem, but
debit and credit card fraud continues.
The
various types of card fraud include:
Card-not-present
(CNP) fraud
This
includes fraud conducted over the internet, by telephone, fax and mail order
and is perpetrated when criminals obtain debit and credit card details and use
them to make fraudulent transactions.
It’s the
largest type of card fraud in the UK.
Because
neither the debit or credit card nor the cardholder is present, businesses
can't check the physical security features of the card to determine if it’s
genuine.
Card
skimming
The most
common type of cash machine fraud is known as ‘skimming’.
This is
where thieves attach card readers and small cameras to cash machines. These
capture your card details. At the same time the cameras film you keying in your
Pin.
Another
ploy is to use card readers to capture debit and credit card details elsewhere
– for example, in restaurants and petrol stations. A corrupt employee puts your
card through a device, without your knowledge, which electronically copies the
data from your card's magnetic stripe.
With both
types of fraud you'll often be unaware until your statement arrives, showing
debit and credit card purchases that you didn't make.
Bank details
phishing
Criminals
send emails that appear to come from your bank to get you to enter passwords
and account details on a fake version of your bank’s website.
The
number of these ‘phishing’ emails being sent out has increased dramatically in
the last few years.
Pharming
This
relies on a computer virus that redirects you to a fake website when you
attempt to access your online bank account.
Intercepting
financial mail
Criminals
steal new credit and debit cards and cheques from the mail and then use them to
buy goods. At particular risk for this type of fraud are properties with
communal letterboxes, such as flats and student residence halls.
General card
fraud prevention tips
- Don't let anyone else use
your credit card.
- Always take your receipt.
- Keep your receipts and tear
them up, or preferably shred them, before disposing of them.
- Only shop from well-known
websites that display a secure padlock logo, and have both a landline
phone number and a real address (not a PO Box).
- Don't give out your debit or
credit card Pin. Avoid obvious Pins such as your birth year.
- Keep your credit cards and
cheque book safe.
- Keep a note of contact
details to use if your debit or credit card is lost or stolen. Carry them
separately from your cards.
Click on
the link below to see how card fraud can be used over the phone.
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