Business Tips to avoid Identity theft issues

Read the FTC Business alert!

• If your business accepts credit card orders, attempt to verify an address where a product is to be shipped, even if it means a simple Internet search for those large dollar orders. Our Department has taken numerous complaints involving out of state businesses becoming victims they sent their product to an address of a hotel or office complex where the thief meets the delivery driver in the parking lot; the product is gone and it is later found out that the credit card is stolen

• If your business has a credit card machine that prints out the last four digits of the customers credit card and / or type of credit card on the receipt.take a moment to check and see if the number of the credit card you just swiped is the same number that is printed on the card. Very often, counterfeit credit cards printed numbers on the front of the card does not match the fake information that has been encoded on the magnetic strip on the back of the card.or you will see AMEX on the receipt but the card is a MasterCard for example.

For more information, you can visit the Federal Trade Commissions website at www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/business/data.shtm

Please Note: Businesses cannot be victims of Identity Theft. If a crime occurred involving a business name or information, such as a business check that has been counterfeited and cashed, please report the incident to the appropriate law enforcement agency who has jurisdiction where the crime occurred (in this example, it would be where the counterfeit check was uttered or cashed).