Merchant Account Security Issues

Anthony L. Ogden, Attorney and Author of the merchant account book “What Every Business Should Know About Accepting Credit Cards” (BankCardLaw Media Corp., 2004) says the uninformed and unprotected business is a “sitting duck” for identity thieves, database hackers and fraudsters.

These criminals make their money by attacking honest businesses that accept credit cards. They illegally obtain cardholder account information from stored locations. Make fast and furious scam purchases. Then they disappear along with valuable merchandise. They also take their lists of valid account numbers and “sitting duck” businesses to sell and use for more attacks.

Ogden’s merchant account book explains that in the U.S. market alone: more than 600 million credit cards are issued to cardholders; more than 5 million merchants accept credit cards; and annual card sales exceed 1 trillion dollars. Credit card fraud and ID theft causes estimated annual losses exceeding 1 billion dollars.

Ogden’s merchant account book further explains that ID theft, hacker intrusion and fraud imperil all businesses. These crimes can destroy a business by quickly depleting its resources. Moreover, these crimes cause a business to experience excessive fraudulent and unauthorized credit card charges (generally an amount greater than one percent 1% of 1 month sales volume). When this occurs a business can lose its merchant account, ability to accept credit cards, and literally go out of business.

Businesses must understand their merchant accounts to actively reduce their risks of card data theft and fraudulent card purchases.

This article, though a little full of self-promotion, raises some important issues about security concerns for merchant accounts

We Highly Recommend You Fill Out the Merchant Account Information Form on the Next Page. They'll tell you exactly what kind of merchant account you and your business quality for and show you all your credit card processing options.

More information is available at www.bankcardlaw.com.

Anthony L. Ogden, a Bankcard Attorney since 1994, is the President of BankCardLaw Media Corp. Mr. Ogden can be reached at (661) 775-8527 (press option 2).