Forum Moderators: buckworks
Im fairly new at the ecommerce bit.... As a matter of fact this was my first "sale" so to speak.... I was very excited to be a "merchant" yet after examination i came to the conclusion that this wasnt a real sale but a fraud attempt (at best i could figure), so i turned it down... But, even as a newbie this guy/"customer" must have mistaken me for a country bumpkin.
A "customer" comes into the online store,
1st Dumb thing)Orders the first 3 products in the que (total purchase price of around 35 dollars)
2nd Dumb thing) selects 3 Day shipping with UPS (shipping cost alone ~ 30 dollars)
3rd Dumb thing) Pays by CC with the name of the purchaser as AA Bernard Fletcher (name changed)with shipping going to "Demetrious Bernard" on the address that the CC is billed to (the CC checked out). NOTICE that the first and last names are similar in each name.
4th Dumb thing) One of the products is not available so i email him and ask if he wants to continue with the order or cancel.
Now, i just didnt feel comfortable processing that order. I hope it wasnt a real customer but i have never seen any customer in any field not care about what product he gets for his/her money, especially since he purchsed literally the FIRST 3 items on display, there wasnt much choosing going on....
Anyway, i would love to hear from you guys if you think i was mistaken in not accepting that order... Is there some plausable answer for a customer to choose those particular sequence of actions?
-Karim0028
[edited by: lorax at 2:52 pm (utc) on Jan. 26, 2007]
[edit reason] no email plz (see TOS [webmasterworld.com]) [/edit]
Dumbest attempts we've seen:
Makes reservation under African sounding name, specifies nationality as Nigerian, attempting to complete the reservation from an Eastern European IP address, using a credit card with someone else's name (not African sounding) that has a U.S. billing address. This happens once or twice a month.
We used to ask them to fax a signed authorization form and copy of their passport, but we never hear back from them. So we don't even bother any more- we just automatically decline the reservation. If they are legit, they'll make a reservation for a different hotel. Note- in 4+ years of online reservations, we have NEVER had a completed reservation from a Nigerian.
On you question about the not caring about the exact replacement item, I have had that happen to me, but it was on a wholesale order from an existing customer that trusted me to pick them something that would match the normal items that they carry.
I have also said that to my stone suppliers before. I'll put in my order and then tell them to send me $x amount of other things that they feel I should look at using. It is a good way to get some variety and not fall into preconceived ideas of what I should use. The key in both cases is an existing relationship with trust on both sides. This is certainly not the situation you describe.
Hope your next sales are a little more genuine!
That screams nigerian fraud attempt.
They were trying to determine if the credit card was still good.
If you do a site search for fraud, we put together a list of red flags that would be very helpful for you. It would be a real good idea if you did a bunch of reading because you can bet your next fraud attempt is not going to be as easy to spot.
you can bet your next fraud attempt is not going to be as easy to spot
Rule: Never mention on your site that you're new to ecommerce.
Funniest one we ever got (at least in the top 100) was from a guy who listed his email as mugu@muguman.com. Muguman is Nigerian slang for a scammer.
The economy of Lagos Internet cafes has surely plummeted in the past three years. Their "419 letters" are buried in a sea of spam, and online retailers have effective ways to detect bad orders.
The orders the first three items thing and different address/name.
Happens a lot to me for things that are bought as gifts.
Same again with delivery sometimes being more than the cost of the item. last minute gifts.
And yes every time I thought I'm going to be ripped off.
As always, its your call on trust/paranoia.
My experience is that online crooks never waste time replying to a rejection. For example, when I've told obvious telephone scammers that we'd need payment by wire transfer, the phone usually goes dead instantly.
Given the small size of the order, it may well have been a legitimate gift. Separate ship and bill isn't a major red flag for us.
I just didn't feel like being out ~$75 dollars on the first go at it, need more experience ;)
Even really suspicious looking orders usually turn out just fine. We've had valid orders from hotel addresses (talk about risk; the customer will be gone in a week!). Still we don't export from the USA and large orders are thoroughly checked.
Good luck with your new venture
Our site that sells graphics puts a big watermark with the site name on the large-scale product preview pics.
Some champ decided to steal the web pic, take it to his local print shop and promote himself, with the huge watermark in the middle of the flyer.
Luckily one of our members in his city noticed these prints and reported it in.
