The exponential rise of the internet in the last few years has made it possible for people to buy a product online in just a few minutes. As soon as you start your search on the web, you are likely to find business of varied sizes offering the product or service you are looking for without having the option of company verification.
However, a good-looking website alone does not guarantee the genuineness of the business or merchant. With so much hype about consumer-side digital crimes, it’s easy to overlook the absence of KYC verification which can cause business and merchant frauds.
Given the complex nature of the digital payments ecosystem, this type of fraud can be hard to detect. Still, the most prevalent among these merchant frauds you should beware of: :
- Identity Swap: Individuals on the AML/ATF watch lists or merchants belonging to extremist groups are generally prohibited from opening accounts. To circumvent such prohibitions, they often use a fake identity or set up a fraudulent online storefront with no address verification done to secure a merchant account.
- Bust Out Fraud Without Company Verification: In this type of fraud scheme, a merchant opens an account without any real intention of operating a legitimate business.
- Transaction Laundering: Transaction laundering happens when a bogus company uses a legitimate merchant’s payment credentials to process payments.
Top 5 Ways For Company Verification
To avoid getting scammed, here are the top ways to verify the legitimacy of a business.
Check if the Company’s Full Contact Information is Available Easily
The first step towards verifying the legitimacy of a company is to check if you are able to locate the business’s contact information such as full name, physical address, telephone number and email address easily.
If a business is legitimate, there will be definite evidence that you can verify, through services such as address verification in India, and all the facts will add up.
Further, the business website should also have a proper address and a landline for potential customers to get in contact with them. Make sure to check both. Try calling the company and searching google maps to verify if the address is a genuine office address and not a fraudulent one.
Ask for References
To verify the businesses and merchant’s financial creditworthiness, make sure to ask for their bank’s reference letters. Further, to check up on their track record in producing quality items, ask for their previous customers as a reference and, if needed, contact them too.
Verify if the Website Accepts Secure Payments
If the online business you are dealing with wants to accept secure payments with a credit card and uses SSL security to encrypt your payment and personal information, you need not worry.
Another way to verify the website genuineness is the address. The websites with SSL security have a website address that begins with “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP.”
Check the Google Safe Browsing Transparency Report
Google has various powerful algorithms for spotting fraudulent websites. Leveraging Google safe browsing transparency report, you can quickly check the website’s credentials.
All you need to do is simply paste the URL into the search bar. Google then compiles the report by scanning their web index to identify potentially compromised websites. The search engine does this by spotting phishing sites, malware or other forms of compromised security.
Go for Company CIN No Verification
To find whether the company is real or fake, you can also go for the CIN number verification. To do this, you will have to go to the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, and enter the company name.
The website provides basic information of companies, such as the director of the company, contact details, and paid-up capital of the company. The same portal can also be used to check whether the company is genuine or fraudulent.
If the company is registered, you will get the below information of the company:
- LLPIN /CIN /1A Ref No
- Company or LLP Name
- Registration Date
- State
- Company Status
Conclusion
In today’s technology-driven world, complete KYC verification of the business you are engaging with has become a necessity.
If there is some suspicion about a business, then it’s preferable to err on the side of caution. Ultimately, it is essential to feel entirely comfortable and secure before entering into an online business arrangement with anyone.
This is important as relying on fake people to deliver a product or service could have profound implications that could damage your overall credibility and reputation in the long run.
At AuthBridge-India’s largest identity and background verification company- we deliver cutting edge authentication technology for contactless onboarding and remote address verification in India to help you verify the legitimacy of the businesses you deal with. Get in touch with us today for all your verification needs.