• Home
• About Us
• Web Seals
• Certification
• PCI Scanning
• Why Integrity?

Protect Yourself                                      

In pursuit of improving ecommerce and online business, we provide complimentary protection services for all consumers. We believe that almost 90% of internet fraud can be prevented by educating consumers. Integrity Business Bureau has identified 5 steps to shopping safely on the web.

 

1)      Does the website display full contact information – address, phone and email?

Bona fide businesses have nothing to hide. Companies with an online presence should list contact information such as a mailing address, phone number and email. Not only should this information be listed, but should also be accurate and always kept current. It only takes a few minutes to verify that both the phone number and email are functional sources of communication.

 

2)      Does the website display company policies including but not limited to: a Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Billing Policy and Guarantee Policy?

Prior to submitting personal information and definitely prior to entering credit card or social security information, you should reference these documents to see what happens to the information after it is submitted. You should also make sure that you are aware of the company policies in regards to cancelling, returns, refunds and other billing policies.

 

3)      Does the website utilize credible payment options?

Integrity Business Bureau does not make any official endorsements of certain credit card companies or other payment processing options. With that disclamer, some well known payment options include: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB and PayPal. Most merchant providers have a valid website with contact information as well.

 

4)      Does the website take consumers to a secure page to input payment information?

Most web pages begin with the protocol: http://  This is standard and expected. However, when you arrive to the page that collects payment information or other information such as SSN #’s or loan details, you should notice a change to the protocol. It should now read: https://. The S acts as an indicator letting consumers know that the page is secure and all information entered will be safely encrypted. Verifying security is easy, check for the “S”. You can also click on the lock symbol at the bottom/top right of your browser to verify the details of the SSL Certificate.

 

5)      Have the previous four items been certified by a third party verification process?

Many businesses choose to save their customers’ time by having this information certified by a third party company such as the Integrity Business Bureau. The additional time and money involved in setup and on-going certification demonstrates a company’s desire to protect the rights and privacy of consumers.

 

 

 

Additional Government Resources:

 

http://onguardonline.gov/docs/onguardonline_overview.pdf

http://ftc.gov

http://www.secretservice.gov/financial_crimes.shtml

http://www.ic3.gov/complaint