Ecommerce Risks to Be Aware Of
A Home Business Article Contributed by Stephanie Litaker
There's always a risk involved...even with ecommerce
What is now known as a great industry, with unlimited potential, there are also risks to be considered with ecommerce. When purchases are made from the privacy of our own homes and little positive identification is available, the likelihood of fraudulent purchases increases dramatically. While there are steps that can be taken to avoid such incidents, it's nearly impossible to avoid all of them.
The riskiest areas for ecommerce transactions
A recent survey of ecommerce business agents shows that New York City has been ranked as the riskiest metropolitan area in the United States for fraudulent ecommerce transactions. What does that mean? Basically that means that more purchases made from New York City are made with credit cards which are stolen, or with illegally gathered credit card information, than anywhere else in the country. Also, the same survey indicates that Nigeria was ranked as the riskiest country for fraudulent ecommerce transactions.
Obviously New York City and Nigeria were not the only places to receive the distinction of being the riskiest places for ecommere business. The list also included these U.S. cities:
- Miami
- Los Angeles
- Chicago
- Detroit
- San Francisco and the Bay area
Other countries on the risky ecommerce business list included:
- Indonesia
- Russia
- China
- United Kingdom
- Afghanistan
What does the risky ecommerce business list mean for those places
The areas that made the risky ecommerce business list are still taking part in ecommerce, but consumers in those areas may be required to jump through a few extra hoops. Some online ecommerce retailers will ask customers in the so-called risky areas to provide further identification before completing the transaction, such as a telephone call to the home number listed with the credit card company.
With the holiday shopping season just over, in some cases, smaller ecommerce companies were sometimes forced to reject orders that couldn't quickly be verified. While this may seem unfair to some, it's important to recognize that the businesses have to take certain steps to protect themselves from fraudulent ecommerce activities.
You may ask what has caused the fraudulent activities with ecommerce. Well, basically the same reasons that cause fraudulent activities in more traditional business transactions. Dishonesty. But the trend of fraud associated with ecommerce in specific areas of the world by be attributed to the frequent and easily accessibility of trans-contenintal shippers in those areas. Again, you're probably wondering why?
Well, as the world of ecommerce continues to grow, the knowledge of the fraudulent activities continues to grow, those wishing to take part in the deviant activities must continue looking for ways to avoid being caught.
Those bad boys (and girls too) have figured out that U.S. businesses are now hesitant to accept orders from the areas on the risky business list, they have started establishing a domestic shipping address, where someone will accept the delivery of the package, and ultimately forward it on to the real recipient.
