The theft of credit card numbers is enormous. It is estimated that as
many as 40% of all online transactions are bogus.

This article is normally an electronic booklet sold on my site, but I
decided its content was too important to not share with you.

How To Protect Your Online Store from the Internet Burgulars
by Lynne Schlumpf, CEO
Copyright 2000 Route 66 Cyber Cafe, Inc.

One of the worst things that can ever happen to an online store on the
Internet is lurking
at every storefront out there. The Internet burgulars, as I like to call
them, are waiting
for you to let your guard down just for one second while you're processing
their credit
card number. It is at that point that you may as well just walk out in the
middle of the
street and throw every bit of money in your wallet and pockets at the next
car that goes
speeding by. Or better yet, whatever merchandise it is that you are selling
online, just
go throw about 40% of your inventory into the streets to let others come and
pick it up.
This sounds like a ridiculous analogy, I know, but it illustrates how much
they can hurt you.
That estimate is not overstated.It is estimated that this could be the
percentage of lost
sales to fraud on the Net.

They think they're crafty, and they're costing people their hard-earned
savings, the business
they worked so hard to create, and they don't care. All they care about is
fast merchandise
of the right kind to offload and sell on the streets, or whatever it is that
these crooks
do with it.

You will find some of the stories I am going to tell you not only funny but
ridiculous. I am
not making light of a serious subject, believe me! This subject has
obviously become a
sort of a quest for me. I want to stop them, and I want you to help me.
I don't want to see you give away even one cent to these people. Your
business does not
deserve the thievery that abounds.

I am not saying that this type of practice did not exist before the Internet
became a
household word. It was happening EVERYWHERE!
I used to have a friend who was a manager for a COMPUSA store. This was a
very large
store with thousands of orders a day, but this guy knew what he was doing.
He did not lose anything to these people. He taught me many of the things I
am going
to pass on to you. I remember being in his office one day, and the
phone rang. Some women was screaming so loud at him, I could hear her across
the room.
She was yelling that she was supposed to have her laptop delivered by next
day mail,
and it had not arrived yet. I thought, boy, they must've really messed up
her order or
something.

He politely told her he would check up on it, and he hung up.
It was at this point my eye-opening began. He taught me that if a customer
is irate
and wants quick shipment to places like New York City, Detroit, Chicago, and
they
put the whole thing on a credit card (about $3,500 worth), it's STOLEN. I'm
not
picking any city in particular - these come to mind as the ones he
mentioned.
Two elements of the sale bothered him.
1. The amount was high (over 500.00)
2. The need for urgent shipment was weird.

Thanks for joining me. After you finish this report, you'll be amazed at how
simple
it is to keep from getting ripped off. I hope this will be a fun but
informative
adventure for you. I will start by showing you a day in the life of two
Internet store owners. One is
very naive (as we were in the beginning), and the other is a seasoned player
in this
dangerous game of taking credit cards over the Internet. Don't get me wrong,
though.
I don't disapprove of taking credit cards on the Internet, and I don't think
anyone
should stop taking them. If your company can take losing up to 40% of its
merchandise to
thieves, don't read the rest of this booklet!

What our company actually did was to stop selling computer equipment on the
Internet
altogether. This was one among many reasons.

When I return in Part 2, I'll show you a scenario of two Internet store
owners, and I'll discuss how they handle online ordering.