How To Have Safer Online Transactions Using Booggins

Effective online fraud prevention often involves several technologies, each targeted towards a specific fraud indicator. However, in the arsenal of online anti-fraud tools, IP geolocation is one that's getting more attention from companies that conduct their business online. booggins ( www.booggins.com ) has recently introduced technology that identifies the geographic location, IP address, and ISP of it's web site visitors, deploying geolocation as part of it's online fraud prevention program. The implementation of such a system is a significant step towards the creation of a safer, fraud free environment in which members can build profitable, trusting relationshps with one another. The Internet Fraud Prevention Advisory Council has estimated that the incidence of online fraud as a percentage of business revenues is up to 40 times higher than offline transactions in which the buyer is physically present. That's facilitated in large part by the anonymity of the online customer and the lack of direct communication between trade participants. In 2005, for example, the risk management arm of the information company LexisNexis studied more than 100,000 transactions by a major online retailer. The study found that 75% of identified fraudulent orders with U.S. billing addresses had been placed from overseas. It also found that in over 85% of fraudulent domestic transactions, the customer's billing address didn't match the state from which the order was actually placed, and that fraud rates were 15 times higher for such mismatched transactions. booggins cuts that risk by determining the geographic location of each member in real time and attaching this information to each item listing, blog entry, and blog comment, for others to see. This allows trade counterparts or interested parties to compare the data on a member's IP domain of origin with the billing and shipping address information that they supplied when registering. It's then up to each member to determine their course of action. Additionally, because the free webphone service Skype is supported from any booggins' account, direct person-to-person communication is available at no cost. This provides an additional, cost-cutting platform that allows any misunderstandings or questions to be immediately cleared up. Geolocation technology helps each member of booggins to create a rule based system for their online transactions that efficiently balances the dual risks of fraud losses and the blocking of legitimate customers.