Forum Moderators: buckworks
How should I go about handling this? Obviously I'm going to refund the cardholder, who issued a fraud report w/ their card company. But once I do that, I want to make sure this person does not get away w/ this. Is there anything I can do? I have an address and a signature.
See this thread: Fraud Alert [webmasterworld.com]
shipped to a company in NY and was signed by someone
Our products are low risk too. Key is to keep communicating with all involved.
if a kid is good at musing mom and pops credit card how do you know you're talking to mom and pop? HOw do you now pop isn't in on the deal?
sometimes being a criminal is a family affair and there isn't much you can do about it.
The fraud that i have the worst issue with is "Reshipper fraud" And i report that to the FBI every chance i get.
Basically John Doe on the internet sees a work at home job, applies for it and is asked for his billing info and a social security number to confirm his application. That company in turn offers them a job of handling products and uknowingly to that person the company applied for credit on their behalf and is using that credit with no intention of paying it back. John doe now has a cool job receiving boxes and re-packaging ore re-shipping them to foreign addresses.
3-5 weeks roll on by and all the John Doe gets a statement in the mail, calls up the credit card company and they initiate chargebacks on everyone while the merchandise is on a ship to some god forsaken land and John Doe is not only out of a job he thought he had but now has an FBI profile most likely and is probably on a no-fly list to boot.
these are VERY difficult because you can call them and ask if they ordered something and they will say they order lots online and handle many products and accept the order because its their job (so they think) and everything passes avs/fraud checking.
Usually the ONLY way to catch this if the purchaser (who is normally over seas) mistakingly uses his/her own ip address and you see orders from ghana coming through. Then you have a red flag.
The good ones have infiltrated networks, hacked accounts, have the reshippers do the ordering and or use proxy services or whatnot to hide their real identify.
so yeah, fraud is difficult to manage and you just have to do your best sometimes ;)
Bet ya check the place is a bar or something public that you can't prove nothing.
Chalk this up to don't trust anybody on any charge check them all.
We use to have a policy of anything over a 100 check the card and or different address, but that has changed now we chech them all as the fraud orders were getting smaller and smaller to so unless they are a return customer we check them all.
Since this has been put into place about a year ago we have caught many many fraud orders for single items valued at 30-50.
I know 30-50 bucks is small but the issue comes into play with the $35 charge back fee and the possibility of losing your merchant account if you have to many and or getting placed in a higher bracket on fees.
bottom line CHECK THEM ALL
My products likewise attract little fraud, but I have also deliberately discontinued certain items that attracted fraud. I have not noticed any decrease in my overall sales on account of doing that.
I have been told by a cc processor that even if you have a signature, if the customer insists that s/he didn't get the item, you are out of luck.
I cannot believe how easy it is for customers to commit fraud. This is sickening.
Will there ever be a day where sellers get the upper hand?
Interestingly, if you are able to ship things yourself, you are a in a much better position as you can put in place as many additional security checks as you like (check government issued ID, photograph the handover, etc.). Unfortunately for most of us this just isn't feasible.
I cannot believe how easy it is for customers to commit fraud. This is sickening.
Statistics indicate online card fraud is very low and falling. I think it is a non-issue for most American WebmasterWorld old timers. Our losses run around 1/10th of 1%. Others report similar track records or better.
BTW, we make little effort to check smaller orders within the USA for fraud in the absence of some huge red flag.
I'm guessing that these days some Americans would rather walk away from their homes (and underwater mortgages) than have their credit cards yanked.
I know did it one time got hung on a 5k certified check. Bank teller stole some from the back of the book but I found out bad certified checks are every where so these are very dnagerous as well.
I don't do any cod's much to dangerous
jsinger
We use to not check the small orders either but it has gotten to the point we have to as the fraud orders have gotten smaller and smaller.
Think about it if I can get 10 small orders processed verses one big one that most likely will be checked and caught then I a well ahead of the game, and who's gonna go after a $50 order.
Perhaps we're going to end up with customers having to make hard cash deposits into your business bank account and have them confirmed before you even allow the goods to go out. Either that or someone will start a payment service which is on the merchant's side - funded in person with hard cash and only allowing chargebacks where firm indisputable evidence is offered.
Obviously I'm going to refund the cardholder
If the address matches then that was the cardholder. Obviously you have already lost before the fight has even begun. If the funds are that unimportant to you, why not just take teh loss and forget it?
Make sure you have your account locked so no one can redirect your packages.
When in doubt about an order .. make them pay western union.
