When 65 percent of your sales are online, credit card fraud can put you out of business. Companies are fighting back with tough security measures, policies, and new products. . . .
When 65 percent of your sales are online, credit card fraud can put you out of business. Companies are fighting back with tough security measures, policies, and new products.

At least once a day, solution provider CompSource finds itself the target of a ripoff artist. In fact, Dean Bellone, founder and CEO of the $12 million, 13-year-old Cleveland-based company, has been targeted so many times he now considers himself a fraud expert.

The way Bellone sees it, if, like CompSource, you do about 65 percent of your sales over the Internet and you want to stay in business, you'd better learn how to outfox the bad guys. "If every one of those hit, we wouldn't be here," he said. "A lot of companies hit by these scams end up dying off. It's very discouraging."

What's also troubling to Bellone and other solution providers is the sharp spike in credit card fraud and Internet scams they've seen in the past year. A CRN Online Quick Poll last week found that 82 percent of all solution providers surveyed are seeing an increase in credit card scams and Internet fraud. What's more, 49 percent said these practices are up more than 100 percent in the past year.

Solution providers are fighting back with tough security measures and new policies for their sales reps, including refusing to ship out of state or out of the country. They're also turning to a new class of vendors that offer identity verification products and services.

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