Credit Card Number example essay topic

Boots secures its Wellbeing The Wellbeing Web site, launched by Boots and Granada, had to establish systems to identify and screen out online fraudsters without inconveniencing its genuine customers. Susan Amos reports When chemist Boots and leisure giant Granada launched Wellbeing. com, a Web site that sells goods ranging from toothbrushes to exercise bikes, they realised that like all major online shopping ventures it faced a significant threat from fraudsters. They wanted to make it easy for genuine consumers to buy, while keeping fraudsters at bay those who use computer-generated credit card numbers to buy goods, and do not pay for them. When an order is placed on Wellbeing. com, its bank, Barclays Merchant Services, checks that the credit card number is genuine, that the card is not stolen and that there are funds available. However, this system provides little safeguard against a number being used fraudulently if the card has not been stolen.

To add further checks, Wellbeing turned to Texas-based Clear Commerce's Enterprise Merchant Engine an integrated fraud management system. Kevin Figgitt, third party operations manager at Wellbeing, says Enterprise Merchant Engine is very easy to use. 'You set up a number of rules. According to what the customer types in, it returns codes and you can decide what action to take for each response code,' he says. The software can refer a customer to a contact centre to complete a transaction or block purchases entirely. The engine can spot when large volumes of popular goods are ordered with the same card several days in a row often an indication of fraudulent activity and it can screen out orders from certain people.

'If you " ve got an idea that it's an iffy order, you can look for matches on email, address and name. The software checks for certain IP addresses, certain email accounts and certain names like Mickey Mouse. It can even block transactions from a certain ISP,' says Figgitt. Wellbeing plans to build a database of fraud hot spots and then add them to the Enterprise Merchant Engine. 'We " re talking to the police and delivery firms such as Securicor and DHL to find out the areas of the UK they won't deliver to,' says Figgitt. Credit card purchases over the Internet are classed by banks as card-not-present transactions.

This means Web sites are liable for losses, even though the banks authorise transactions. 'If we accept a fraudulent card for whatever reason, we " re liable,' says Figgitt. Ideally, the banks should require customers to key in a PIN number or the three-digit number on the back of most cards, argues Figgitt. 'The three-digit number is an entirely randomly generated number and the only way you could know it is to have the card in your hand,' he says. Enterprise Merchant Engine runs on top of an Oracle database, which holds product information, and BEA's Web Logic e-business platform, which serves as the front-end store. Wellbeing uses the i Planet Web server and hardware from Sun, and e-business integrator S cient wrote the system programming.

Once a customer presses the button to confirm an order, it is fed through to a Meta Pack supply chain management package and Manhattan Associates' PkM S warehouse management system using Seebeyond's instant messaging software. Enterprise Merchant Engine was already certified by Barclays Merchant Services and this gave it a head start over rival products. 'It's a fairly lengthy process getting software certified by the bank. Using a product that is already approved shortens time to market,' says Figgitt. He looked at cost of ownership over five years and rejected rival offerings that used bureau services, with charges for each transaction..