Follow these best practices to assure your customers that you care about the security of their personal information.
If you work at the point of sale, you’re on the front lines of the battle against identity theft. After all, credit card fraud is the most common form of identity theft.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, credit card fraud is most prevalent at the point of sale—the place where customers hand over or sign up for new credit cards. That’s why you need to know the best ways to keep customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) safe at the point of sale.
Keep onscreen information from prying eyes. Ever get the feeling that someone was looking over your shoulder? Sometimes they are! When your computer screen or register displays PII, make sure only you and the customer can see it.
Remember, thieves make it their job to steal and they know you’re handling the information they want.
Keep conversations private. Exchanging pleasantries is just good customer service … but conversing openly with customers about their PII isn’t. When you need information, have customers show you identification or write down their PII. Make sure only the two of you are in on the exchange.
Lock up credit card applications. You wouldn’t leave your own purse or wallet unattended at a point of sale, so don’t leave customers’ credit card applications out in the open either. Secure completed applications out of sight.
Don’t trash PII. All PII is valuable, even if it’s on a credit card application that is rejected or only partially filled out. So don’t just throw such information in the trash. Identity thieves only need partial information to perpetrate their crimes.
You’ll need to secure all documents with PII in a secure location until they can be properly disposed of. Be sure to follow our organization’s specific policies on the disposal of documents that contain customer PII.
Most identity thieves work by stealing, overhearing, or seeing the information they want, so your actions at the point of sale matter. When you stay on guard against identity theft, you keep our customers coming back.
