| Any high risk merchant should be aware, if not | | | | As a matter of fact, legitimate buyers would most |
| become thoroughly an expert, of all the technical | | | | welcome security measures such as IP geolocation |
| aspects of credit card transactions. Let's face it, | | | | from high risk merchant account providers to protect |
| doing business online is taking risk a hundred times | | | | them from credit card fraud. Scammers would hide |
| more dangerous than doing business the brick and | | | | behind anonymous e-mail addresses and proxy |
| mortar fashion. Smart merchants would never plunge | | | | servers. The most that high risk merchants can do is |
| headlong into online ventures without a good, | | | | to filter suspicious IP addresses. The process goes as |
| working knowledge of the loopholes of the billing | | | | following: |
| process via credit cards. | | | | 1. Merchants detect IP address using geolocation |
| High risk merchant account providers employ various | | | | technology and IP validation technology. It may be |
| tactics to mitigate the frequency of chargebacks | | | | categorized by country, zip code, area code or billing |
| such as restriction on the use of anonymous e-mail | | | | address. |
| addresses, credit card validation, IP address | | | | 2. The geolocation/IP validation technology identifies |
| detection, and proxy server identification. | | | | where the user is located spot-on and compares |
| Anonymous E-mail Addresses | | | | where the person making order is located and his |
| They would make sure email address, phone number, | | | | actual billing address. |
| zip code, credit card, mailing /shipping address and | | | | 3. Merchants analyze, double check transactions, and |
| other forms of identification are valid. It's rather | | | | filter legitimate and illegitimate transactions. They may |
| commonplace to hear that if you were dealing with | | | | also block transactions considered as possible frauds, |
| credit cards, it would be unwise to accept credit card | | | | or transactions originating from fraud-prone high risk |
| owners that provide anonymous or free e-mail | | | | countries. |
| addresses such as @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, or | | | | Proxy Server Identification |
| Credit Card Validation and Other Issues | | | | IP address detection also goes hand in hand with |
| All low risk and high risk merchants are required to | | | | proxy server identification. Merchants may find |
| integrate a credit card validation system with the | | | | difficulty in detecting IP addresses if customers hide |
| customer's issuing bank. | | | | behind anonymous proxy servers. |
| To make it even foolproof, merchants would double | | | | What is a Proxy Server? |
| check for phone number and zip code authenticity, as | | | | A proxy server facilitates network performance by |
| well as compatibility with the customer's billing | | | | making use of a caching system. The cache is a |
| address and issuing bank's country. Some would even | | | | temporary storage for data that have been viewed |
| make sure they are not doing transactions with | | | | recently (like a brain's short term memory). The |
| customers that originate from high risk countries. | | | | purpose is to prevent data such as web pages and |
| How IP Address Detection Works | | | | images from being downloaded repeatedly, thus |
| Merchants, however, will find even better benefit in | | | | saving time on accessing them online. Another is to |
| taking advantage of detecting the IP addresses of | | | | help network administrators filter sites that they |
| their customers. Security is a tall order when it comes | | | | deem other users of the network must not access. |
| to buying and selling online. | | | | |