Security company The 3rd Man has acquired online credit card fraud company Early Warning.

Early Warning is one of the UK's leading fraud-busting services whose database is used by a wide cross-section of online retailers.

Consumers can also post details of actual or attempted internet crime, as well as searching to see if others have had similar experiences.

The 3rd Man provides fraud screening services to over 18,000 retailers and also operates Supersearch – a national card-not-present fraud file.

By adding Early Warning’s Card Aware database to The 3rd Man’s Supersearch system, retailers will be able to share information on high-risk transactions.

However, although it is now part of The 3rd Man, Early Warning will remain a separate company headed by Andrew Goodwill, who founded the company in 2002.

This means it will continue to alert consumers to scams and let them report fraudulent sites and traders they have discovered; usually because they have become the victim of a fraud such as the case earlier this year, concerning a company calling itself Instant-AV.

Alerted by consumers to the company, Early Warning, along with Computeractive, uncovered a scam through which fake traders drained thousands of pounds from people's bank accounts and credit cards.

Andrew Goodwill said joining The 3rd Man would allow it to be even more effective and proactive.

"Data-sharing is a proven method of fraud prevention, so now, by pooling resources with The 3rd Man, we can together be even more effective," he said.

Paul Simms, chief executive of The 3rd Man, said: “By bringing Early Warning under the 3rd Man umbrella, our aim is to develop a massive and dynamic system of information sharing which will be used by retailers to protect themselves and their genuine customers.

"The ability now to share fraud data with Early Warning as well as learning from their experiences is a major boost in the fight against card crime.”