Your protection against credit card fraud:
All transactions containing payment information are handled on secure sites provided by the various payment processing providers. This means that we do not store any payment information that – by itself – could be used to make unauthorized purchases by third parties. Therefore when we need to make a refund, we have to go through the payment processing provider of your choice, and if you wish to pay an additional amount after completing your purchase, e.g. to up-grade shipping method, you will be required to re-enter all payment information.
Our protection against credit card fraud:
We are proud to accept credit card payments from most parts of the world. Our credit card processing providers have established various means of cross-checking the credit card information submitted to us, so that they may protect us from fraud. Occasionally we receive card information that does not pass our security checks. When this occurs, we email a request to the customer to provide the correct information so that we may continue to process the order.
When someone cannot supply the correct information for the card account they are attempting to use, we can only assume that they are not the owner of the card account, and do not have permission from the true account holder to use the card.
This constitutes credit card fraud, which is a Federal offense in the United States, which is where our credit card processing companies are based. Credit card companies do not take fraudulent card activity lightly, and neither does the U.S. Government, nor other governments. This offense is viewed by the Government as comparable to counterfeiting currency, as it has a negative impact on the country's economic stability. That is why the investigation of this type of crime is done by an agency of the Treasury Department. When our credit card processors detects a fraudulent card submission, our policy is to immediately report the data directly to this agency (http://www.treas.gov/usss/contact_ecb.shtml), including all personal data related to this transaction. The IP address is collected every time a client submits a form with payment information and can be traced to the owner. International frauds are later also informed to Interpol.
