By Will Sturgeon, 24 September 2002 15:40
NEWS A UK e-tailer, frustrated at the rise of online credit card fraud, has taken the fight to the fraudsters with the launch of a website called early-warning.org.uk. Andrew Goodwill, MD of ukcomputerparts.com, launched the site, which collates details of would-be fraudsters and alerts fellow e-tailers about the threat they pose, because he says he had become so frustrated about losing money to conmen and had become disenchanted about a lack of interest from the police. Goodwill said he took action himself because "the police don't want to know and the credit card companies don't want to know either". Within two days of launching, 35 e-tailers have already signed up for the service, which is free to join. Most are small businesses, the majority selling computers and software. However, the site also represents stores as diverse as balloongreetings.co.uk, spirit retailer WhiskyNet and ShoeShop.com Early-warning.org.uk is likely to appeal to smaller e-tailers who do not have the necessary resources to protect themselves against fraud. They are also often the companies with the most to lose. For a 'one man band', operating a small ecommerce site, losing thousands of pounds to fraud will seriously affect his or her livelihood. Goodwill told silicon.com that one UK computer retailer lost £5,000 online over the course of one weekend before signing up for early-warning. The individual who ripped them off is now blacklisted on the site. Experian conducted some research in June and found that debit and credit card fraud carried out over the internet or by phone is setting UK retailers back £96m per year. Any company is welcome to join early-warning. For more information see http://www.early-warning.org.uk .
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