by Peter | Oct 12, 2017 | News, News Alerts, Non-Profit News
A fabulous evening was had by all at the 2017 Apex Award Ceremony. There
was more than glamorous and beautiful women attending this event. All are
accomplished women who gave their time, knowledge and experience to make a
difference in our community.
It was especially exciting for us as our own, Barbara Dell, was the
recipient of this year’s prestigious award. Barbara has helped over 3200
women in Southwest Florida. Women who have fallen onto hard times, have
been victims of domestic violence or single mothers. Many struggling at the
poverty level just trying to make ends meet. Dress For Success offers not just clothing,
but programs to help them with their job interviews, learning new skills to
help them re-enter the workforce stronger and more confident than ever.
Recently, , I met someone who achieved the position of a manager at a local
Dillard’s only to learn that she attributed her success to Dress For Success. She repeated
how she could not have done it without the help, guidance and encouragement
given to her by Barbara and Dress For Success.
There is only one Barbara Dell! But what Barbara has built will affect
hundreds if not thousands more women as the SWFL chapter of Dress For Success continues to grow and touch every segment of our community.
Photos from the event
by Peter | Sep 14, 2017 | Clover, News, News Alerts, Public Service
Business and Individual Assistance for Lee and Collier Counties Now Available
If you, your business or a family member has been affected by hurricane Irma here are some valuable resources to help you get help in the aftermath of the storm.
Check your address and apply for assistance here:
Address Look-up
Check the Status of your claim and find local resources here:
https://www.disasterassistance.gov/
Florida specific information relating to those affected by hurricane Irma
floridadisaster
Download the FEMA app for your smartphone
IOS:Â https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fema/id474807486?mt=8
Android:Â https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.fema.mobile.android&hl=en
Read FEMA’s advice on vetting information found on social media here
If your business and it’s ability to make payments has been affected contact Card Systems for some help in getting your business taking payments today. We have some great limited time FREE promotions that allow businesses to begin making payments on a mobile device today.
by Peter | Sep 5, 2017 | Hospitality News, News, News Alerts, POS Systems
Living in the age of smartphones, apps, and online ordering restaurants are being pushed into adopting new technology to meet guest expectations and deliver best in class customer service. Customers and restaurant owners alike are wanting to see newer technology integrated into the dining experience as well as their daily operations.
Considering that 80% of today’s internet searches take place on a smartphone or tablet restaurant owners are beginning to take notice of the need for online ordering.While customers receive instant gratification from placing and managing their own orders, restaurateurs are saving time and money by not answering the phone and keeping their wait and host staff focused on guests in the dining room. A vast majority of younger customers are likely to skip over locations who do not offer such services. In extreme cases, some restaurants have increased their total volume by upwards of 50% simply by adding online ordering.
When technology is added to daily operations it helps restaurants run more efficiently and streamline processes. Point of Sale technology that can achieve this level of operational efficiency is usually thought of as too expensive or difficult to use. Many restaurants use a combination of systems to manage different parts of their business that are never really able to tie all the important data points together. For example, a restaurant uses one system for in-store sales, another for online, and a third to track customer loyalty. This type of operation is likely losing some useful data and labor hours when attempting to bring everything together. Sounds confusing right?
Can One System Offer the Functionality I Need?
No toggling between applications, no switching stations to check out to-go or delivery orders, customer loyalty, in house orders, sales tracking, a waitlist that sends a text message, payroll, and more all managed from a simple cloud based website.The efficiency and labor hours you would recapture are likely to more than offset the cost of this revolutionary iPad Point of Sale System, not to mention increased sales from being able to offer online ordering if you don’t already.
A system that’s completely scalable to your needs today with the ability to grow your business into tomorrow. Start as simple or complex as you like and add in the included functionality as you begin to phase out your legacy systems. Getting started with a single tablet and online ordering is just as simple as a 10+ station operation using the full functionality.
Don’t wait any longer and contact Card Systems today for a no charge site assessment and demonstration of the iPad point of sale system that your employees will love! No matter what your business model, efficiency never looked so affordable. 1.866.207.3298
by Peter | Sep 1, 2017 | News, News Alerts, Security
Secrets of the Dark Web
Cybercriminals can take an in-depth, six-week course of 20 lectures, in Russian, on Carding…learning how to steal credit card data from insecure databases or buy the data on the dark web. They can also take information on emails and passwords leaked from other data breaches to access banking websites, buy vacation packages, gift cards, all within nine minutes after the information was posted online.
The class, more in-depth than most, was discovered on a deep web forum by Digital Shadows while investigating credit card fraud and criminal activity.  On one forum alone, more than 1.2 million card numbers were available for sale, nearly half of the numbers in the U.S. While card hackers and sellers are based in Russia and Eastern Europe, the buyers are often here in the U.S. Digital Shadows estimates $24 billion in credit card fraud next year.
Dark Web, A Simple Explanation
The Dark Web is a collection of thousands of websites that use anonymity tools like Tor and I2P to hide their IP address. While it’s most famously been used for black market drug sales and even child pornography, the Dark Web also enables anonymous whistleblowing and protects users from surveillance and censorship.See This article from Wired for more
How Can a Consumer or Business Reduce the Risk of Credit Card Data Theft?
- Place an alert on your credit card and bank for purchases less than $5 and more than $100…it is common for a thief to test the card by trying to process a small amount…usually less than $5
- Never give your pin number to anyone
- Never use the same password for your bank or credit card that you use for another website
- Confirm all communication is authentic such as phone calls or emails
- Do not click on links in suspicious emails
- When in question always contact the business or individual directly
by Peter | Aug 31, 2017 | News, News Alerts, Public Service
Recently it was announced that email recipients were experiencing a new phishing scam that appeared to be a Delta Airlines ticket receipt. These emails may look very similar to an actual Delta email with a few slight differences. The picture below points out some things to look for before clicking any questionable links in an email.
This new round of emails appears to be hitting a large concentration of business email addresses over personal ones. Of course, we are all guilty of hastily clicking links when we believe something has been charged to our credit cards in error or unexpectedly. Instinct kicks in and we click in the hopes of finding the answer. The best thing to do in this case is to carefully review the email content for any identifier that it could possibly be fraudulent. We’ve noted some things to look for using red text in the image above. It’s also worthwhile to note that airlines will always include departures/arrivals in the ticket detail of any type of electronic communication  While there are many different versions of this particular phishing email above is just one example.
The link embedded in the email would open up a malicious Microsoft Word document that will activate and infect your PC. It will then begin connecting to other malicious servers to download and distribute further malware. These types of malware can collect, store, and send your financial information, login credentials, and other locally stored pieces of personal data.
Be sure to alert and educate your employees about these types of phishing attacks and how they could possibly affect your business and its sensitive data.When in doubt always reach out to the sender through a verified method of communication.
Thanks for visiting Card Systems
