Consumers, businesses and the credit card industry are plagued by the increasing occurrences of credit card fraud from small to large incidences.
NB: This in an analysis by Coleen Smith from WEX Inc.
The most recent and notable being the Home Depot breach in September 2014 and previously the Target breach that occurred between November and December 2013.
The Target breech impacted 40 million cards while the Home Depot breach impacted 56 million cards.
This does not begin to represent the time, effort and stress felt by customers impacted, forced to monitor their credit and statements, wondering if their info would be exposed to unauthorized use.
As a credit card issuer, WEX is no stranger to fraud cases, we were also working during this time with our customers to monitor their accounts for fraud and in most cases cards were reissued.
A certain risk factor has been inherent in credit card use since their invention, but most of us feel relatively comfortable that we can safely go to the store or place an order online, pay for the goods and services with our card, monitor our statements and review our credit score once or twice a year.
Can you accept this as a cost of doing business today with the increasing incidences of security breaches?
Yes certainly, while you are paying close attention to your statements and reviewing credit scores, your credit card company is working in tandem to track fraud.
WEX has implemented targeted fraud strategies that pour through large amounts of transactions data in an effort to catch fraud and stop it well before it shows up on our customers’ statements.
When customers bring instances of fraud to our attention we use those cases to expand our fraud model, adding tighter security restraints. If fraud is identified, cards are immediately closed and new cards are issued.
At the heart of this issue is a renewed drive toward securing data and mitigating the risk of fraud. WEX is consistently focused on this issue where it impacts our Plastic Card Program and also relies on its portfolio of Virtual Card Programs to help shield its customers and business partners from loss due to fraud.
We see an increasing trend toward use of the virtual cards as one of the primary tools to manage and mitigate fraud.
The biggest lure being a one-time use secure account number, restricted to use for a specific dollar amount, to a timeframe and to merchants customized to your business needs.
Furthermore, no banking information needs to be exchanged and/or maintained which reduces the risk of data compromise.
Here is a review on how virtual cards work in the travel industry:
So back to our initial question, what to do? For now this a question that warrants more from us to develop products and processes that effectively block fraud in its varying forms.
In the meantime, WEX believes that its Virtual Card Programs and Fraud Strategies serve as viable tools in the war against fraud.
NB: This in an analysis by Coleen Smith from WEX Inc. It appears here as part of Tnooz’s sponsored content initiative.
NB:Credit card fraud image via Shuttetstock.