Fraud occurs when a criminal uses proprietary information or deception for personal gain. Fraud has many guises and forms, and is a problem for both businesses and individuals. Creating a good fraud protection system can be vital to keeping money, personal information, credit rating, and even a reputation safe. There are many different tips for creating good fraud protection, but the bottom line behind most tips and tricks is to be constantly on guard.
Individuals are often at risk for identity and credit card fraud. These types of fraud generally occur when a person gives or makes vulnerable private information, such as credit card or account numbers, to a fraudster. One of the best ways to create fraud protection against identity and credit card fraud is to guard this information very carefully. Personal details, such as account numbers, should only be given to websites and businesses with a published privacy policy and a good rating from a consumer protection bureau.
With online fraud through phishing and spam scams on the rise, personal information should never be given in response to an email, even with a company that has a relationship to the email recipient. If a bank or online merchant sends an email request for personal information, use another source, such as a search engine, to look up the customer service number for the company. Call the company and verify that the email is legitimate before giving out information. Most reputable companies will never ask for account information by email to begin with, because of the high risk of fraud.
In addition to keeping personal information as private as possible, it is important to create fraud protection by regularly checking bank statements and credit reports. Discrepancies caused by fraud are easy to miss if a person checks in with account statements irregularly. A free credit report is often available once per year, and should be examined to make sure that no fraudulent accounts have been registered in a victim's name. Some people also go an extra mile by signing up with a credit monitoring service for more regular updates, or by taking out fraud insurance against the possibility of identity or credit theft.
In a business, fraud protection is necessary on both internal and external levels. From an internal perspective, it is important to screen employees carefully before hiring, and set up a thorough and redundant security system that will reduce the opportunity for employee fraud. When dealing with customers, clients, and other businesses, it is vitally important to check identification for credit card and check purchases, get industry references and consumer protection ratings before issuing credit to new clients or vendors, and create a strong privacy policy to protect confidential information about the business. While nothing can provide a total shield of fraud protection, having clear and thorough fraud prevention systems can help deter many fraudsters.
