It can be a shock.
You request your credit card statement only to find a series of big transactions you know you didn’t make. Thousands of dollars gone in a blink of an eye.
Credit card identity theft cases are the No. 1 type of fraud reported by Americans in 2018. According to FTC reports, the number of identity theft cases increased by a whopping 46% between 2018 and 2019.
But personal credit cards are not the only ones at the risk of theft.
A business credit card is just as vulnerable as a personal card. And the risks of a business credit card being stolen are higher due to employee use. Here are some handy tips that will help to protect your business from credit card theft.
1. Never Let your Card Out of Your Sight
A basic tenet of business credit card theft prevention is protecting the card itself. Business credit card fraud can happen in many ways, including:
- Cloning
- Skimming
- Card-not-present fraud
A thief will, in most cases require the physical card to “clone” or copy your card details onto a bogus card to start using your credit card.
To be on the safe side, never let your card out of your sight. For example, in restaurants, a waiter may take away your card to the billing desk, swipe it, then bring the charge slip to you to sign. With the card out of your sight, it’s easier for them to run it through a card-cloning scanner. Instead, always insist on the restaurant to bring a POS device to your table for the payment.
2. Order Credit Reports
Whether you own a business or personal credit card, you’re entitled to one free credit report from all the three credit bureaus each year. To stay vigilant on the symptoms of credit card fraud, experts recommend ordering a credit report every four months.
Also, you might want to consider enrolling in a credit monitoring service that will be sending you timely alerts on any suspicious activity that may hint to credit card fraud.
In addition to credit monitoring, these services offer identity theft protection features such as dark web scans, safe browsing, and anti-phishing tools. For more info on this, check out this Identity Guard article on how to prevent identity theft.
3. Limit Your Company Credit Cards
Business credit card theft can easily happen if you’ve issued cards on your business account to your employees. Employee card abuse can take any of these two forms:
- Taking card advances against the card’s credit limit
- Charging personal expenses to the card
Either way, your company will incur financial losses since the debt will be charged on you—the primary cardholder.
If you wish to delegate spending to your staff members, ensure that you’re only giving out cards to your most trusted employees. Also, always ensure all cards are returned once the cardholders have completed their purchases.
4. Only Use EMV Chip Cards
EMV is the globally accepted standard for chip-based card transactions, which fights against fraudulent charges.
Since card companies don’t require signatures, credit and debit cards usually come with EMV chips. EMV microchips use a one-time transaction code which helps to protect your card against possible duplication by skimmers.
While EMV cards can’t fully prevent online credit card theft, they can significantly minimize your risk of falling into the hands of card skimmers.
We hope these tips will help to keep your business safe from credit card theft. Feel free to comment and share.
Leave a Reply