In the last twelve months, credit card fraud against online companies has exploded as more and more thieves figure out how easy it is. To make matters worse, online and phone orders are not automatically insured against fraud - you are 100% liable for all your losses.

So here are some easy ways to protect your e-business from credit card fraudsters:

1. Reject orders sent from free web-based email accounts like Yahoo or Hotmail. Antifraud.com says nearly all fraudulent orders come from free accounts.

2. Most real businesses have e-mail addresses that include their website's domain name. Go to their site and see if it looks legit.

3. If the billing address is different from the shipping address, this should raise a red flag, especially if they are in different states or countries.

4. Another high-risk transaction is two or more orders from the same credit card.

5. When in doubt, phone the number listed on the order.

6. US banks have an Address Verification System (AVS) that merchants can use to ensure the billing address the purchaser has given matches the one in the AVS system.

7. If you use an online order processor, make sure it has thorough fraud prevention measures.

8. Put a message on your site warning crooks you have anti- fraud protection in place.

9. Create a blacklist of bad credit card numbers so you won't get ripped off twice by the same thief.

10. If you want an extra sense of security, insurance coverage is now available against this type of fraud.

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