How to Protect Your Online Store from the Internet Burglars, Part 4 Copyright 2000 Route 66 Cyber Café, Inc. by Lynne Schlumpf

Here are a couple of true stories for you:

1. A man in England ordered $27,000 worth of the latest AMD K7 CPUs and motherboards. He gave his REAL address, his real phone number on the order. Boy, was he surprised to get a phone call from the United States asking him to verify the order. He sounded really scared and mumbled something about someone playing a trick on him, that no- he did not order any computer stuff on the Internet. Duh! American Express and the Justice Department got to know that boy really well!

2. Someone in Thailand ordered about $3,000 worth of computer parts. The ship to address was his home in Thailand, and the bill to was some poor guy in New Hampshire. After calling Mastercard services, we were able to identify the card as stolen. The guy in New Hampshire was not aware that his credit card number had been "lifted". Mastercard promptly cancelled the card. We emailed the guy in Thailand and told him the credit card number he was using was on the "list" of stolen card numbers. He promptly sent an email back (from his free email service there) and cussed us out in his native language, saying: "What's wrong with a guy ordering something as a present?" Our response: "Ordering something as a present for yourself, with some guy's credit card number in New Hampshire?" Another Duh!

Here are some resources that will help:
(if the card number provided is International, you will be referred by these numbers:)

Visa and Mastercard Services: 800-347-5004
Discover Card Services: 800-347-2683
American Express: 800-528-2121

The US Justice Department would appreciate your reporting what you know about stolen credit card numbers to them:
Their new website called Cybercrime was created to address the growing incidents of crime on the Internet.
Visit them here:
http://www.cybercrime.gov/

Internet Fraud Complaint Center

https://www.ifccfbi.gov/

This site is brought to you by the FBI, principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the National White Collar Crime Center. The Complaint Center's mission is to serve as government headquarters for combatting and reporting all types of Internet fraud. Consumers can easily and securely submit complaints. It works like tech support -- you get a ticket number, and then your complaint is referred to the appropriate regulatory, investigative, or enforcement agency. The IFCC and associated agencies will collect, manage, analyze, and disseminate data, warnings, news, and statistics in order to educate the public and catch the perpetrators.

You can also read about how to better promote your website here:
http://www.r66cci.com/Promoting.htm

We have some e-commerce read-me's also:
http://virtualis.com/vr/lschlump/ecommerce.html

You can also read an article about Computer Crime here:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber ech/cth589.htm

SOME NOTES ABOUT SECURITY ON YOUR SYSTEM:

Here are some other useful utilities to help your business succeed: Black Ice by Network Ice. This great utility protects your computer while you are online. If you are connected with cable modem, (and even by modem) it is especially crucial that you protect your system against some of the following types of attacks:
TCP port probes
FTP port probes
Trojan horse port probes
Orifice port probes
Subseven port probes

What are these? Many hackers set their computers to constantly scan thousands of computers on the Internet and automatically look for systems that do not have protection on their different ports. These are areas of vulnerability that can leave your system open to viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and all types of illegal activity. Black Ice tells you who has been scanning your system by IP address and even by host name in many cases. It protects all ports, as long as you set the level of protection to Paranoid. You can find a lite version of this software at their website. We highly recommend that you consider purchase of the full version. It allows you to log for proof if you need it, and it allows you to block certain IP addresses. In the blocked addresses section, you can set it to Autoblock any illegal activity IP addresses. You would be amazed how many times a day your system is scanned by hackers to see if they can find a vulnerability there. This was the best investment our company ever made, after switching to cable modem!
http://www.networkice.com

One other very useful utility if you use Microsoft Outlook is called ScanMail. It scans your mailbox for any attached viruses on any email you receive. You can find this great utility here:
http://www.trendmicro.com

If you follow these guidelines, you'll have almost zero percent loss in your online store. If you have a success story, we'd like to hear about it. You'll receive a free case of delicious Penguin Caffeinated Mints if we choose your testimonial to feature.

About the Author:
Lynne Schlumpf is the CEO of Route 66 Cyber Cafe, Inc., http://www.r66cci.com, a Web hosting and design company specializing in promoting websites for new owners, building affordable e-commerce sites, and providing reliable web hosting solutions as an affiliate of Virtualis Incorporated.

internet online stores