Scams are abundant in business today no matter what type of service is being acquired. At a minimum, fraud may include concealed fees or altered information regarding a merchant services account. The modified information can be things such as fees, prices, or account features. Hidden fees are one of the most common scams associated with any type of business or individual service. A provider may conceal specific fees which appear suddenly or are unaccounted for when the bill is sent by the processing bank. Many companies do not supply a full pricing list to their customers. If a list is provided, not every fee will be shown. The best lists need to have a link to the processing banks charges along with their own rates or fees. These fees are often not conveyed on the provider’s website. You can ask the company to provide a full list in an effort to avoid merchant services fraud. If they make it difficult to obtain these specific pricing details, they may not be the best provider for credit card transaction processing. There are many scams out there and it can be difficult to know who is legitimate. Follow the guidelines below to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.
Guidelines for Preventing Merchant Services Fraud
Merchant services fraud can be devastating to your business. It only takes a few simple precautions to reduce the likelihood of fraud. Websites that start with a well known address not associated with the company name should be bypassed completely. Fraudulent services open sites to nab a few consumer dollars and then close them. You will be safer if the site address only contains the provider’s name. Read the price list with an eagle eye. If the provider does not immediately supply the contract and price list, ask for it before signing anything. You can double check any suspicious low rates by directly contacting the company’s staff or reading customer reviews. Reviews are a great tool when attempting to decide on a service provider. Forums, blogs, articles, message boards, and other types of reviews allow you to view consumer ratings as well as get a general idea of the trustworthiness of the company.
Google has a distinct process for rating official company sites. Typically any business listed after the third page is not highly rated. Stick with the initial listings to reduce the risk of merchant services fraud. It is good practice to ask other local business for processing provider references. They may be able to convey which companies were more problematic for their business. Any time you are uncertain of the overall security of a gateway, you can ask the card processing bank to verify it is secure. Thoroughly look over the site content including the questions and answers page, articles, and general service information. If the site has quality content as well as a good design, the provider is more likely to be a real company. Sites which seem sloppily put together with bad grammar or lack of content are a sign of trouble. Precaution is vital to avoid merchant services fraud when obtaining payment processing services for your customers.
